Remember Me
by LunaRoyale01
Summary: "How can you trust her? She's a ghost with weird plant powers" "She's lost, alone, and scared little kid with no memories. Just because she's a ghost doesn't mean she's dangerous. It was only right to help her"
1. Chapter 1

**As I have stated in my very first posted fanfic I will be posting other fanfics of other categories. So here is one fanfic that has me very excited. I understand some of you are waiting for updates to my first fanfic, but if you read my recent note I believe you can understand why.**

**First off before anything I very much like to thank Bookworm Gal, writer of the Fairly Oddparents story "Never Had a Friend like Me" and a recent favorite of mine, for collaborating with me on this fanfic and helping with the plot and characterization. You've been a great help.**

**To anyone who is reading this, I am currently in search of a traditional beta if they wish to check my grammar and such. My current one is only temporary. If they wish to help, please PM me.**

**Ok then, as disclaimers all go, I state that I do not have any ownership over Danny Phantom. All rights of the show belong to Butch Hartman. The only thing I can claim any ownership is this plot and my OC character.**

**With that, I must warn you all that this is an AU. As such, I will be start from a slightly different premise before going to near the beginning of the series of the canon, somewhere between the first and fourth episode to be more specific.**

**I hope you enjoy this fic and please Read and Review.**

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><p>Prologue<p>

Michiko Shade was, to no one's surprise, currently enthralled by a picture book. She knew everyone would expect her to be lurking quietly among the various shelves of the library, enjoying the stories rather than running around with the neighborhood kids on the playground outside. With no siblings and with the local children considering her "weird" due to her less energetic ideas of fun, among other things, she found the solitude of the library comforting. Ever since her dad first brought her to the library down the street, introducing her to fairy tales and books in general, she loved to read them. Her dad would even call her "His Little Matilda". She was always curious to know more and books were reliable ways to find out amazing things. Besides, books didn't use mean words or call her names like other kids would.

She knew she didn't look or act like the neighbor kids or her classmates. She looked like her mother, with her beautiful black hair and her slightly-slanted eyes. The color of her eyes was the same light grey as her dad's. And Michiko knew that some of the words her mom taught her and used for important people weren't words her teacher and the local children used such as greetings and how to address other people. That was because her mom was from a place called Japan while her dad was from here. And it was why she had a "weird" name, as one of her classmates said the first day of school. She had a name like her mom, Fumiko, while her dad had a name that was more like everyone else, Matthew. People were different all around the world, but that didn't mean being different was bad. She liked the differences and liked the amazing things her mom knew how to do that no one else in the neighborhood did. But being different sometimes made it hard to make friends. So Michiko stayed with her picture books.

Abruptly, the doors slammed open and the sound of feet running filled the air. Being curious, Michiko put down her current book about how flowers grew and decided to see who was causing such a ruckus. Peeking out from a bookshelf, she saw a young boy being quietly reprimanded by the librarian. He looked to be about six years old, just like her. He had black hair and, when she squinted her eyes to look closer, Michiko noticed that he had dark blue eyes.

Once the librarian finished reprimanding him, Michiko saw him sigh in relief before he turned and met his eyes with her, startling her. Diving behind the bookcase once more, she quickly returned to her book and hid behind it. A moment later, however, she heard a quiet voice.

"Hi."

She hesitantly looked up to see the same boy she saw earlier now looking at her.

"I've never seen you around before, what's your name?" he asked, taking a seat across her.

"Michiko," she muttered as a reply. "What are you doing here shouldn't you be playing with the other kids outside?" she asked, lowering the book to look at him as he sighed and leaned back against his chair.

With a huff, he replied, "I was before some big bully decided it would be fun to chase the little kids around. I didn't know where I was going, so I ended up here." He crossing his arms over his chest clearly miffed. Then, relaxing once more, he asked her, "What about you? What are you doing here?"

He was looking at her in curiosity as she replied, "None of the other kids want to play with me, so why try?"

With that out of the way, she sighed and looked down at her book.

"Well, you seem nice, but your name's really weird though, so I'll call you Miki, let's be friends, okay?" he said quickly in one breath.

His words surprised her before she realized what he said last.

"Fine, but my name isn't Miki. It's Michiko," she retorted in annoyance, but with a hint of smile on her face.

Somehow, that was how Michiko met her best friend. There was no other word to describe the boy. Anytime that her father brought her to the library after school, she would look at the playground beside it to see if a familiar black-haired kid was there. And if he was, she would join her on the jungle gym or swings though albeit shyly at first. Or when he could he would follow her inside the building and help her look for interesting books. Sometimes, he would build small castles by stacking the books on the table. And sometimes, when he managed to talk her into it, she would help him, though she would scold him later on. With Michiko's shy nature and his free-spirited one they balanced out her quiet hobbies with his more energetic games, finding a way to enjoy each other's preferences.

And when summer rolled around, it seemed like they would have even more time together. But then her parents mentioned that they were going to a family reunion for her father's side of the family and they would be gone for a week. While disappointing to the six-year olds, they promised to get back together as soon as Michiko returned.

After all, it couldn't be that long of a wait. Right?

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><p>It took at least three days and two rest stops to reach the venue of the family reunion. Luckily enough though, they reached the event in time.<p>

Mom had made her dress up nicely since she wanted everyone to make a good impression. While her dad just had to wear a nice shirt and khaki pants, the girls of the family wore dresses. Michiko wore a pretty white dress with a leaf green cardigan. She could always take off the cardigan if she got too hot, but Mom said it would be better to take it just in case. She was also wearing a necklace she got for her birthday. It was a little locket with a picture of her family inside and the letter "M" on the outside. She felt grown up wearing it, just like her mom wearing her necklace with the jade pendant.

The venue was a quaint little park, with a couple of swings and several picnic tables that were surrounded by some larger trees that kept the rest of the surroundings out of sight. And the entire area was packed with people; adults, kids, and even a few elders. They were scattered around, chatting or eating food from the tables. Most had blonde hair like her dad's and a few even had the same light grey for eyes, but a few brunettes were also spotted along with blondes with green eyes. They seemed to fill the park. And even if her parents told her that they were her family, she didn't recognize a single one.

As they got out the car, Michiko searched around for any kids her age to play with. But before she had the chance, she was swarmed. The older members of the group, the ones with wrinkles and grey hair, spent the first few minutes of her visit patting her head, commenting on how much she'd grown, and saying something quietly about how maybe it wasn't so bad that Mathew married someone from another country if they had such an adorable little girl. It was so strange to be at the center of attention like that while so many strangers smiled broadly while claiming to be her cousin, her aunt, her great-uncle, her second-cousin, her grandmother, or her really really distant cousin. Happily, they were eventually distracted away from her the moment another car arrived with more relatives for them to greet.

Now free from the endless swarm of new family members, Michiko continued her quest to find someone to play with. But to her disappointment, she was searching in vain. None of the kids were near her age. They were either too old or too young. There seemed to be nothing but teenagers who weren't interested in playing with a six-year-old, a few boys who were about twelve and refused to let her on the swings they'd claimed as their own, or toddlers who were wobbling around the grass while their parents watched them closely.

Disappointed and wishing she could have just stayed back home where she could just visit the library with her friend, she decided to find a nice place to read. Barely managing to tell her parents what she had in mind due to the sheer number of people talking to them, she was able to find a spot of shade a little ways off under a tree. With a book she'd brought out of the car, she sat down and started to read. she'd chosen a more difficult and longer book for the journey, this one with actual chapters and fewer pictures. She had to really focus on reading this one, but it was a fun story and she liked a challenge. It didn't take long for her to become completely immersed in her book and she forgot about the rest of the world.

Abruptly, a pair of arms had grabbed her. Before the startled girl could even scream in surprise, a hand muffled her mouth. She struggled against the strange embrace, but the person was too strong. She was held tight, the stranger's embrace like a mockery of a hug. The person was pulling her away, trying to get her out of view. She struggled helplessly as she saw that her family only a few meters away, but none of them looked in her direction. They never noticed that she was in trouble.

"What a pretty girl," a gruff voice said quietly.

Michiko was quickly moving from surprise to terror. She didn't know this person. It wasn't some kind of game, like how her dad would sometimes scoop her up and tickle her. This was a stranger and they were pulling her away from her family. She didn't want to go with them. The child was still trying to scream and cry for her parents to come and get her, but the firm hand across her face kept her silent. The person dragged her deeper into the forest with Michiko shaking in their arms in fear.  
>She didn't like this. She wanted to go home. She wanted to go back to her house or the library where it was safe and nothing bad ever happened. She wanted to get away from the bad person who wouldn't let go. He was scary, like a monster. She didn't like this at all and it was like one of the scarier books that she couldn't read before bedtime because it would give her nightmares.<p>

Maybe this was all a nightmare and she would wake up soon. She tried closing her eyes, thinking about her safe room with her warm bed, stuffed animals, and her little tea set made of real china. She tried to make herself wake up. Michiko hoped with all her heart that this wasn't real. She wanted it to just be a horrible nightmare, but the strong arm wrapped around her body and the sweaty palm pressed against her mouth felt all too real.

Suddenly, they stopped. Michiko opened her eyes to a peek. At first, all she could see was a colorful blur. Then the six year old, realized two things. The first was that she was crying and the tears were the reason that everything was blurr. The second was wherever they were, there was a meadow of wildflowers.

"Perfect," the scary monster man said.

Suddenly, she felt herself being dropped as the grip suddenly vanished. Michiko didn't even think. Stumbling and tripping to her feet, she tried to escape. She didn't know which way to go or where her family might be, but the girl just wanted to get away. She only made it a few steps before the tight grip returned to grab her. Scared, Michiko screamed and this time there was no hand over her mouth to silence her. She didn't say anything specific; she just released a terrified and wordless shriek.

Her scream was sharply ended as she was thrown against a tree. She yelped as her side was hit by pain and the strong hand pushed her back against the rough bark. Then something slapped the side of her face.

"Good little girls should be quiet and stay still," he growled.

Groaning in pain, she opened her eyes once more to see the monster man pulling rope out of his backpack. He looked like a person, but he was too mean and scary. He really must be a monster in disguise. His hair was blonde and messy, like his mom had never helped him comb it before in his life. He was wearing blue jeans and a grey shirt that did nothing to hide how large and muscular he was. His eyes were green, but also kind of dark and murky. It was like there was something even scarier hiding in there.

With the rope in hand, he started tying her to the tree trunk. She tried to pull free on him, but it only took moments for several loops of the rough rope to bind her in place. Once the monster finished tying her up, he pulled something else out of his backpack. With a scary grin on his face, he swiftly tied a rag in her mouth. He seemed to glance over his knots one final time before nodding and standing up. Michiko then saw him go back into the forest.

She instantly began struggling once more, trying to wiggle free of the tight bindings trapping her to the tree. She fought against them for several minutes, but it was no use. She had no way of escape and because of the fact she was now gagged, she couldn't call for help either. Michiko stood in place, crying for several minutes. She wanted her mommy and daddy to come find her. She wanted to go home. Why wouldn't anyone come and help her? She was so scared and alone. In the fairy tales, someone always showed up to rescue people in trouble. She stood in place sobbing silently, wanting someone to show up to save her from the scary monster man.

The flowers were pretty. Why were there so many pretty and colorful flowers when everything else seemed so scary? Michiko found herself staring at the bright oranges and yellow wildflowers. She could pretend she wasn't tied up by a scary monster man, just as long as she only paid attention to the bright and cheerful colors. They were so calm and peaceful to look at. The girl could even see a few bees flying between them. The clearing and all the flowers were so pretty. How could anything bad happen somewhere so nice?

Everything would be all right. The little girl kept tell herself that as she looked at all the wildflowers. Everything would be all right. Maybe she could pick a few of these flowers and take them back to her mommy later. She'd probably like them. Everything would be all right. The different colors were so nice and cheerful that she couldn't help sniffling back the tears a little. She could probably weave them into a little crown fairly easily. She remembered girls at her school doing that with flowers sometimes. It couldn't be that hard. Everything would be all right.

Then the monster came back and she couldn't pretend anymore. Everything wouldn't be all right. He was a bad and scary monster man and she couldn't escape. She felt herself go cold and started to shiver. In the monster's hand was a shovel and she didn't know why that scared her, but it did. There was a smirk on his face as he walked close by her, reaching out briefly to touch her hair and face before he moved to a spot in the clearing not far away. There didn't seem to be as many flowers in that particular area, but there were still some surrounding it.

Giving her one last creepy grin, he began digging at an empty patch. The first layer was removed carefully, as if he was trying to keep the plants unharmed. But once he dug up the top part, he began to remove the dirt quickly. Michiko didn't know what he was doing. Was he looking for something buried? She didn't know and she really wanted to get away from him. She wanted her mommy and daddy to come find her now. They'd show up and fix everything. She knew they would. She hoped they would come soon.

Once the monster man was apparently done digging his hole, he went back towards Michiko. The shovel was propped on his shoulder as he approached, a dark look in his eye. When he stopped right in front of her, he knelt down to her level and smiled. It wasn't a friendly smile. It was a scary one, like how mean dogs would bare their teeth at people they didn't like. He reached out with his free hand and brushed away some of her tears on her face. His touch made her cry more.

"Such a pretty girl," he said in his gruff voice. "I think you're my favorite so far. I'll definitely be thinking about you for a while."

She tried to pull away from his touch, but she couldn't go anywhere. She was tied too tightly. He stroked her face and hair a few more times, staring at her intensely. Michiko tried to look away from him and his murky green eyes, staring instead of the bright flowers behind him. But her gaze kept drifting back to the monster man. He kept looking at her face and hair, like he wanted to remember how she looked forever.

Abruptly, he grabbed her necklace. He yanked it off her neck, the chain snapping and leaving a stinging sensation on the back of her neck. Michiko flinched at the small pain while he looked at her locket carefully.

"Yes, I'll remember you."

He tucked the necklace in his pocket and stood up. He shifted the shovel off his shoulder and held it carefully in both hands like he would a baseball bat. The monster man then swung the shovel, the metal end practically whistling through the air. That was the last thing she saw before pain and darkness seeped in.

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><p>Gasping awake, Michiko looked around and yelped in terror at the sight of her surroundings. She was no longer was in a meadow of wildflowers with a bright blue sky. Instead, she was somewhere that was both dark and glowing with a strange green light, the two aspects swirling and twisting together. It was like the sky had been changed by a toddler finger painting it. And then she looked down and screamed in fright. She saw standing on a floating piece of land. It was just floating in midair, surrounded by the strange shadows and glow.<p>

But that wasn't the end of the strangeness. When she looked down at her hands, Michiko recoiled when she saw that they were now a pale blue.

Filled with shock, confusion, and terror, she curled into a ball on the floating chunk of land. Her mind raced as she sat there trembling, trying to figure out what happened. And even if she was only six years old, she'd read lots of books at the library and that included scary stories. And as scared as she was before, it got worse as she realized what had happened to her. The monster man did the same thing the bad guys always tried to do to the good guys in the fairy tales, only he succeeded.

Tears of sorrow ran down her cheeks. She didn't know where she was, but she knew would never be able to see her family ever again. She wasn't their little girl anymore. She was a scary story people were supposed to tell around campfires. She was a ghost. What was she supposed to do now?

It took what seemed like hours before she calmed down enough to unfurl from her position. But she eventually did, too tired to cry anymore. Once she looked down, she shivered at what she saw. She was now floating above ground.

It took weeks to finally get used to her surroundings. Not to mention the strange things she encountered. Most of them were scary green creatures that simply ignored her and flew by her without apparently caring about her presence. Other times, however, she would see ghosts that looked like her. They were humanoid-looking beings that seemed to just wander the place until they encountered another one. Some talked while others apparently fought anyone who looked at them the wrong way. But she never got the nerve to approach them herself out of fear that they would attack her. As long as she kept her distance, she was all right. And she grew less afraid of the place in general.

Still, thoughts of her family consumed her. She wanted to go home where everything would be all right, but she couldn't. She didn't know how to leave the strange place. And even if she did, she wasn't herself anymore. She was a ghost, like in the scary stories.

And no longer did she feel fear at the thought of the monster man. He was scary, but he was also gone. He couldn't do anything worse to her anymore. Instead of fear of him, she was full unadulterated rage. She was so angry that he did this to her that she wished that she could bring him to the strange dark and glowing place with the scary green creatures. Maybe some of the bigger ones would chase the monster man. But she couldn't find her way home, let alone find the person responsible. So Michiko mostly drifted aimlessly and alone while she thought about her family and the monster man.

One day, however, while she was roaming around, she stumbled upon what seemed to be a lair of some sort. It looked like a giant clock tower with gears and such. She'd passed other chunks of land with odd structures and caverns before. Some of the ghosts seemed to lurk in those places while others seemed to be deserted. This one, though, was the first to really draw her attention. Why would someone make a home out of a giant clock?

Curiosity winning over caution, she silently entered the lair. She almost expected the front door to be locked, but it opened quite easily at her touch. The moment she entered, she could hear the ticking of a clock, the moving of the gears, and soft and steady noises that measured the passage of time.

Not far inside, she found a small table. It was sitting in the middle of the hallway that was completely empty otherwise. Sitting on it, practically waiting for her to show up, was a strange necklace. Unlike the one that was stolen from her by the monster man, it was on a ribbon instead of a chain. And it wasn't a locket with her first initial. Instead, there pendant looked like a gear with a "C" and "W" overlapping each other. Michiko knew she should leave it alone, that she was already tresspassing and taking someone else's necklace would be even worse. What if whoever lived here got mad? Still, it wouldn't hurt to try it on for a little while. It was kind of neat looking and she'd put it back before she left. Besides, it almost felt like she was supposed to find it and try it on.

Decision made, she carefully slipped it over her head and marveled at the interesting necklace. Now she looked like she belonged in the giant clock building. Nodding to herself with satisfaction, the girl continued her exploration.

Marveling at the strange clock tower, she began flying around to take a closer look at the different gears and bells. She'd grown used to flying by this point and it certainly offered the nice side effect of being able to see things that were taller than her a lot easier than before. And with the strange clockwork mechanisms that stretched far above her and around her, that ability was certainly helpful with her exploring of the place.

While examining a bell, however, she saw something out of the corner of her eye. Turning around, she saw what seemed to be a strange device and went closer to it. Michiko couldn't help but think it looked like some strange sort of TV. And the more she glanced around the room, the more of the devices she saw scattered around. Some where high above the ground or smaller, but the largest one at eye level was the one that held her attention the most. And while most of them seemed to be rather blank and empty at the moment, a few of the higher and distant ones appeared to show more of the green and black of the outside. Maybe they were windows instead?

As the girl was looking at the screen, she was startled when it suddenly came to life. For a second, she wanted to fly out of there, but nothing else immediately happened and she decided it was still safe. Taking a seat on the floor, she decided to watch what it would show her. Unlike her glimpses of the others, there didn't seem to be the shadows and green glow of the outside. Instead, the screen was showing a park. There was blue sky, green grass, and trees. And there were people, not the scary green and blue ghosts like the ones she'd seen since her arrival. Everything looked normal, without the floating islands of land or shadows and green glow. She missed normal.

However, the moment a banner stretched over the gathered people came into view, Michiko froze. She knew that banner. She'd seen them before. And even if she didn't recognize the sign, she could certainly read it easily enough. Depicted on the banner was the words "Shades Family Reunion" and the year.

"But that's impossible" she cried, shock washed over her as she sat frozen staring at the screen.

She continued to watch as the screen showed her the various relatives she barely knew. And after watching for a few more minutes, there was no denying it. The image on the screen was showing her family reunion from weeks ago. This strange TV was showing her her past. Or maybe she hadn't been in the strange shadowy and glowing place for weeks. Maybe it was only a few minutes ago instead. It was hard to judge time anyway without a sun or moon in the sky. Or maybe it was all just a nightmare and she'd wake up under that tree, the one she'd been reading under before everything went wrong.

Michiko moved closer to the screen as she caught sight of her Mommy, a wave of wistfulness washing over her. She reached out to touch the image, wanting more than anything to be back with her family. Then she yelped in fright as the screen actually sucked in her hand. Struggling to break free only made it worse and soon the rest of her followed as she fell through.

Feeling like she'd tumbled down a rabbit hole like Alice from the story her dad had been reading to her, Michiko found herself stumbling into a forest. And it was a real forest with a blue sky and everything looked normal. She was out of the strange shadowy and glowing place. Even if she still had blue skin and had trouble staying on the ground, she was still back somewhere normal. That had to be better than being lost somewhere so strange.

Looking around in wonder at the more normal and pleasant surroundings, she then heard the sounds of what seemed like struggling. Part of her wanted to hide, but curiosity seemed to be winning quite often that day. Cautiously peeking out from behind a tree, the sight that she encountered made her go stiff. The perspective was strange, but familiar. She'd seen this before. Michiko recognized exactly what was in front of her. She was seeing none other than herself struggling in the arms of her kidnapper.

She abruptly realized what was happening. The strange TV must have been some kind of time travel machine like the ones in the sci-fi shows she watched sometimes with Daddy. When the realization set in, a spark of hope lit in her chest. In the shows, sometimes the good guys would fix things in the past to make the future better. It was possible that she could change things too. She wouldn't have to be a ghost. She could be with her mommy and daddy again. She could go HOME!

With that new resolve, she silently followed them until they all reached the meadow. She knew that as a ghost, she couldn't set herself free. She didn't want to scare... herself? Time-travel was confusing. But she didn't want to scare the other Michiko anymore than the monster man was already doing so. That meant she had to wait until he was alone. Then she could try to scare her murderer away before he could hurt anyone.

She watched as the monster man shoved her other self against the tree and then slapped her. She'd wanted to wait, but that was the final straw. She was too furious with him and couldn't let him be there any longer. She hated him too much for ruining everything, for taking her away from everyone. And she couldn't stand by an longer.

She flew out of her hiding place and headed straight towards the monster, shrieking at the top of her lungs. Floating in midair, her hair whipping behind her, and her new green eyes glowing with malevolence, she was the image of pure rage. The monster recoiled and stumbled in fear her, ending up sitting on his behind.

"How dare you...?" Michiko hissed, floating in front of him so that they were face to face.

Tears of rage flowed down her cheeks without realizing it. She hated him. He was horrible and evil and... and... She couldn't even think of the right words to describe how bad he was. She just wanted everything to go back to the way it was supposed to be before he ruined it. And she didn't know why he did it in the first place. Why did he grab her? She didn't do anything to him. And he just dragged her away and then he...

Angry, frustrated, and confused, she cried out, "Why? WHY?"

He was scared of her. She could see it. She felt encouraged as she saw the monster actually shake in fear of her. Good. He did something so horrible to her that it was only fair that he was frightened now. He made her a ghost, so he should be the one to be scared.

"You. shall. PAY!" she yelled at him right before she threw herself at him.

"Time Out"

With those two words that seemed to echo in the air, everything just froze. Except for Michiko. In this moment, however, she continued forward towards the monster man, but ended up going straight through him. She tried again, waving her arms through the still figure, but she continued to pass straight through him. Like a ghost.

It was so frustrating. She'd almost had him! Why? Why couldn't she hurt him? Why couldn't she make him pay for ruining everything? It wasn't fair.

Shrieking in helpless frustration that she couldn't even figure out how to touch the most horrible person ever, let alone make him pay for destroying everything, she glanced back up towards her frozen surroundings. The plants didn't bend in the wind, the clouds didn't move across the sky, and the bees were suspended perfectly in midair. Nothing moved. Everything was completely still and silent. And she had no idea why.

Looking around for the cause of this anomaly, her search only ended when she heard a throat clear from above her. And there she saw the strangest being she had ever met. From first look, Michiko immediately knew it was a ghost. he had blue skin like she did and his eyes were bright red with a scar across one of them. He wore a purple cloak, carried a strange staff-type object, and his body ended in a ghostly tail instead of feet. But the strangest thing about him was how he was shifting from the shape of an old man to a younger man to a child before becoming elderly once more. It was like he was continuously aging in reverse and it confounded her.

But mostly she was angry. Since he was the only other thing that was moving, he was probably the reason why everything was still.

"Who are you? Why did you stop me?! I could have gone HOME!" she raged, not caring if the strange ghost would attack her.

Oddly, the strange ghost didn't attack her. Instead, he floated down to her level and placed a gentle hand on the top of her head. Currently looking ancient with his long white beard, he gave her a sad smile and his red eyes looked surprisingly apologetic. This small act of kindness startled her enough as she looked up at the shifting face that most of her fury evaporated. She just stared back at him with tear tracks down her cheeks.

The hand was strangely not as cold as she thought a ghost's hand would be. It shifted to her cheek, still gentle and almost protective with his touch. Michiko, almost without realizing why, found herself calming down and leaning into the contact. The last person who touched her was someone so monstrous and scary. This was so different, like how her mom or dad would try to calm her down when she was upset.

"Oh child," he stated gently, "I had to stop you. You were about to make a great mistake."

His words, though spoken softly, hit her hard. She her anger rising again.

"A mistake?! NO! he... he...," Michiko choked out as she fell to her knees, weeping once more in helpless frustration.

This time, a pair of arms encased her in a gentle embrace. She felt him shift in size, becoming nearly the same height as herself as he took on the form of a child, but she didn't care. This act only made her tears flow out even harder. She clutched his cloak as she closed her eyes, sobbing softly. As she felt him grow in size again into that of an old man, a bright light engulfed them both. Once she opened them again, she saw that they were back in the clock tower.

The change in scenery was enough to remind her of the current situation. Letting the strange ghost go, she sniffled and rubbed her eyes that soon felt puffy. Happily, he didn't seem at all bothered by the fact she'd been crying into his cloak.

"Please understand, child. If you had done what you had planned, you would have created a paradox. And while I have, in another time and place, dealt with the creation of paradoxes that lead to existing entities outside of time, they have to be handled carefully by someone who knows what they are doing. Without my interference, the whole time stream would be ripped apart at the seams," he said gently.

His words were met with a blank stare. The old man ghost sighed.

"The whole world would have collapsed. Meaning even if you have saved yourself in the past, all of you would have disappeared," he explained frankly before muttering to himself under his breath, "She's six. It's hard enough explaining this to fourteen year olds."

Sniffling, Michiko murmured, "So even if I saved myself from the monster man, I wouldn't be able to see mommy or daddy again. Would I?"

"I'm afraid so, little one" Clockwork replied, a regretful look on his face as he floated over to her. "I can see everything that was, that is, that will be, and that could be in another time and place. And there is no outcome that will lead you back to the life you once possessed."

The girl wrapped her arms around herself and shivered. For just a moment, she had hope. She'd thought there was a tiny chance to put everything back the way it used to be. But now that small amount of hope was utterly dashed.

"But there is something that can be done, little one" he told her, startling her into attention. "Something that you can help me with and that might ease your pain."

"What do you mean?" she asked him, confusion evident on her face.

Placing his hand on the top of her head once more he asked her, "Are you willing to trust me?"

There was a rather important question. She just met the strange, backwards-aging ghost. And even if he seemed kind of nice, she didn't know him. So could she trust him? Michiko found herself responding with slow and hesitant nod.

"Very well then. All I ask is that you follow my instructions," he said quietly as he reached into his cloak. "First, you must close your eyes."

She obeyed his orders, shutting her eyes. For a second, she thought she heard the first few notes of a song among the various ticks and clicks of turning gears. But that was quickly forgotten as she suddenly felt a strange sensation come over her.

It was like she was falling or something was being drained away. There was images and voices flashing through her head. Michiko saw faces, a black-haired woman with slightly-slanted eyes and a man with light grey ones. And there was a boy with black hair and blue eyes. Who were they? And there was a library with a playground. Did she know that place? And a blond man with murky green eyes that she didn't like? Why didn't she like him? Who didn't she like? What? What did she just see? There were people...? Who...? There were names, she was supposed to know the names of... someone... Herself? Didn't she have a name? And wasn't... What? Who was she? She was... She was...

The odd sensation, at least she thought it was supposed to be odd, abruptly came to a stop and there was a feeling as if a great weight had been lifted from her. Then the slight numbness wore off she felt dazed and confused. Then she heard a voice, one she wasn't sure she recognized since her memory felt... empty.

"Keep this box safe at all times, little one. Never open it until we meet again. And no matter what happens, you must never take that necklace off. Do you understand?" the voice said.

She unconsciously nodded in consent as she felt the item being pressed into her hands. She held it tight, the object square and smooth. Opening her eyes, she saw a red-eyed figure in a purple cloak smile at her. He looked so kind even with his blue skin and the scar across one eye, like something out of a dream. Everything had a dream-like quality at the moment.

Feeling weightless, and with a fuzzy mind to boot, she soon found herself engulfed in a bright light.

* * *

><p>It was late in the evening when Danny Fenton, also known to the small number of ghosts he'd dealt with so far as Danny Phantom, returned home from ghost fighting. The black-haired, blue-eyed teen was the last person at Casper High who looked like they'd have a secret identity. He was kind of on the scrawny side, especially compared to the likes of Dash. Not to mention he was kind of far down on the popularity charts, though not at the very bottom thanks to the existence of his techno-geek best male friend. But thanks to poking around his ghost-hunting parent's lab and sticking his nose in their nonfunctional Ghost Portal at the suggestion of his best female friend, he somehow ended up half-ghost. And he managed to fix his parents' invention at the same time. So now he got to spend his nights (and some of his days) going out to deal with the other ghosts now wandering around Amity Park and stuffing them into a technologically-advanced thermos while avoiding letting his parents know about his most recent developments.<p>

And for once he actually reached home and was able to get some sleep at a decent hour. There had been no chaos, no screaming in terror, and no ghosts haunting any of areas he'd flown by that evening. His Ghost Sense, which was like a chill up the spine cold enough to leave his breath visible and a fairly useful detection system, didn't go off a single time. Apparently all the things that went bump in the night decided to give him the evening off. And for that tiny blessing, he was thankful. Mr. Lancer was probably getting tired of him using the class for naptime. So Danny flopped on the bed, his face buried in his pillow and letting his body relax into slumber.

But that happy moment was short lived. Just as he was finally about to enter dream land, his Ghost Sense went off and he groaned in aggravation.

"I finally get the chance to have some actual sleep, but nooo... some stupid ghost decides to make some trouble. Ugh, don't they need rest?" he grumbled, pushing himself reluctantly up from his bed.

While initally a difficult trick to learn and he was still in the process of mastering his other abilities, shifting into his ghost form was now relatively easy. Rings of energy swooped over his body, shifting his hair to white and his eyes to a glowing green shade. He even managed to get a costume change in the arrangement, his body now covered in a black jumpsuit. But the changes were certainly more than cosmetic. While people were made of DNA, ghosts were constructed from ectoplasm. And thanks to a certain accident, Danny was too. Or at least, he was partially.

Once more prepared for whatever ghost was dumb enough to go wandering around the residence of a couple of ghost-hunting scientists (regardless of their actual skills), Danny set off to find the source. Once he phased down to the ground floor and took a quick look around, he realized it was probably coming from his parents' lab. After all, they kept a giant portal to another dimension filled with ghosts. If one showed up abruptly in their house, it likely came in through there. Thankfully, his parents and Jazz were already asleep. So maybe he could handle things quickly and quietly before going back to sleep. He really didn't want to deal with any trouble that evening.

So headed down there as quickly as he could. But nothing could have ever prepared him for he saw.

"What the?!"

**To be continued...**


	2. Chapter 2

**I hope for those that have read this that they have enjoyed doing so**

**It's exciting for me to make this idea of mine come to life and hope people will enjoy reading this**

* * *

><p><span>Chapter One<span>

Danny was shocked at the sight before him, for it didn't seem to be a ghost or a ghoul who had come out to cause trouble. Instead, it was a ghost of a little girl. She was curled up into a ball, shaking, sobbing, and seeming to be hugging something to her chest.

Completely confused on what to do, he decided to start by getting the kid's attention and called out, "Hey."

This obviously startled her. She looked up only to start backing away at the sight of him. With that sharp and frantic motion, Danny saw that she was hugging some sort of box.

Seeing how frightened she was at his arrival, he claimed, "Hey, Hey! It's okay. My name's Danny and I promise I'm not going to hurt you."

He held out his hands as if surrendering to highlight this. All his previous complaints about having to handle another ghost situation in the middle of the night simply evaporated. She definitely didn't seem like the usual ghosts he dealt with. She wasn't trying to fly all over the place, scaring and tormenting everyone in Amity Park. She just seemed like a small and upset little kid, granted one that had glowing green eyes and blue skin. She couldn't be that old. She looked like she should be in elementary school. She had smooth black hair and slightly slanted eyes. If it wasn't for the ghost-thing, Danny wouldn't be surprised if she was Kwan's little sister or something. She just looked too harmless. Unless she proved otherwise, he wasn't going to treat her like a threat.

Sniffling and wiping away her tears, she warily asked him, "Promise?"

Trying to smile in a reassuring way, he answered her with a nod.

When Danny saw her start to relax, he decided to ask, "So, who are you? And…"

His questions were interrupted quickly as the girl went into a new bout of sobbing.

Panicking on what to do, Danny tried the first thing that came to mind. He did exactly what his parents used to do when he was small and woke up crying from a nightmare (minus the whole "storm into the bedroom looking for whatever ghosts might be scaring their little boy" thing). He quickly flew over to her and wrapped his arms around her in a gentle embrace. True enough; the impromptu hug seemed to calm her down once more. The sobs slowed as she buried her face into his chest. They floated there for a few moments; the teenage boy gently stroked her hair absent-mindedly as he considered how out of his depths he felt about the whole situation.

"What's wrong? Was it something I said?" he asked finally, pulling back a bit to wipe away her tears.

Tears continued to run down her cheeks. Danny would have to be heartless not to feel bad about her crying. She was just sitting there in her little white dress, her green sweater-jacket-thing over it, and her odd little necklace. He never dealt with ghosts who were so... young-looking. It was easier when all he had to do was punch the problem in the face. The talking about feelings and stuff was more of Jazz's specialty. But he was willing to give it his best shot.

"I don't know who I am. I don't know why I'm here. I just don't know!" she cried furiously, trying to stop her tears and somehow only breaking down further.

It took what seemed like an hour before she would calm down as Danny held her in his embrace. Part of him kept worrying that his parents would come down to the lab for some reason, but he didn't know what else to do except hope that they stayed asleep. So far his luck concerning his parents' obliviousness was holding out and his dad was definitely a heavy sleeper, so he tried not to be very concerned about the idea and instead focused on the crying ghost girl.

"So you don't remember anything?" Danny asked once she calmed down again.

The little girl responded with a mournful shake of the head. Great, a ghost with amnesia. Scratching the back of his head Danny thought hard and soon came up with a semi-reasonable idea.

"How about we head to the Ghost Zone? Maybe something there can help," he suggested, hoisting the both of them to their feet.

Holding her hand, Danny guided her through the portal. He didn't know exactly to expect to encounter in there, but it was the only place he could think of that might be familiar to her. He'd never actually flown around in the Ghost Zone. Mostly he'd just tossed ghosts back in there from his thermos. All he could do was hope for the best and try to avoid anyone who might have a grudge.

Once through, the little girl gasped and buried her face into his side. The weird green glow and shadows swirling together while physics apparently decided to take a vacation was a little weird, but Danny knew he needed to at least act like this was fairly normal to him. The scared little ghost girl needed to believe that someone knew what was going on or he was afraid she'd break down into terrified tears again.

Murmuring assurances, he saw her looking down in fear. If he didn't know that she didn't remember anything, that would have proved it. Every single ghost he'd met seemed to have no trouble with heights and floating in midair. Floating and flying just seemed to be one of their most natural states of being. But she didn't seem to realize that and clung to him as if she'd start falling at any second. Gently, the teenager helped her in adjusting to fly, showing her that gravity didn't have to affect her if she didn't want it to. It was quite easy after a while since Danny himself learned the skill quickly enough considering it was his favorite ghost ability. When it came down to it, flying was just a lot of fun. And just like he did, the girl picked it up easily and soon they took flight deeper into the Ghost Zone.

A couple of hours passed as they flew through different parts of the Ghost Zone, stopping at unique and noticeable landmarks to see if anything would jog the little girl's memory. Sadly, no results so far came from their exploration. Though it certainly left an impression on the teen that this place was huge and he should definitely map it someday. That kind of information could be useful to have.

But the biggest obstacle in this task wasn't the fact he'd never been in this strange place before. It was that he wasn't even sure what he was looking for exactly when it came to restoring a ghost's memories. What's more, the only clues they had so far were the girl's strange medallion that looked like a cog with a couple of letters overlapping each other and the box she still held. The box, a small black shape with white-fern-or-snowflake-like patterns through the material and a golden-yellow roundish gem embedded on the top, looked like it should be able to open and he thought he saw a turn-key on the back that might make it a music box. But the way she clung to it tightly left him a little reluctant to ask to look at it more closely.

They couldn't ask any of the ghosts without risking a fight on Danny's part, so they kept their distance. And even if some of them seemed to vaguely notice the pair, none of the ghosts acted like they recognized the little ghost girl. So they traveled back and forth through the strange geography filled with floating islands of land and random doors that just hovered in midair. A few times, Danny worried they'd get lost and he'd never be able to find his way home before morning. But then he would spot some weird chunk of land that they'd passed before and mentally sigh in relief. Still, they seemed no closer to answers than they did before his suggestion to look through the Ghost Zone.

Stopping to rest at a land mass with a dead and withered tree that he vaguely remembered being in the general area of the portal home, they both sat down sighing in disappointment.

"I'm sorry we couldn't find anything to jog your memory, kiddo," Danny offered apologetically as the little girl sighed again and leaned against the dead tree.

"At least you tried, Danny. Thank you for helping me," the little girl replied before looking at the tree behind her. She frowned, tilting her head a little. "How sad. A tree shouldn't be in a scary place like this," she murmured patting its trunk.

Her casual gesture quickly caused her gasp in surprise as the area the girl touched glowed and the broken wood mended itself.

Wide eyed, Danny exclaimed, "Whoa, how did you do that?"

He gestured wildly at the portion of the tree the little girl healed, the bark smooth and healthy rather than peeling and breaking off like before.

"I-I don't know, I just… I…," she stammered, staring at her hands in shock.

Then she turned to the tree once more, a thoughtful look on a face. Where she touched, the tree was definitely health and alive. The rest still looked withered and dead, but that one spot looked normal.

The teen was already figuring it out. Every single ghost he encountered seemed to have some weird specialty or obsession that made them unique and extra annoying to fight. And apparently she'd just discovered her hidden talent.

"Guess you have some sort of flower power or something… Kind of a Green Thumb effect," he said slowly.

Sam would probably love this. Danny could already imagine the Goth girl snatching up the little ghost and leading her on some kind of "Save The World's Rain Forest" campaign or something. She'd tried to drag him and Tucker to something similar a few years ago that was called "Flower Freedom." No, that wasn't right. The first word was different, but it meant flower. What was the word...?

"I think I read it somewhere… fauna…floral… I know!" Danny murmured, then snapped his fingers. "Flora!"

His random outburst caught the girl's attention, her head jerking around to stare at him. But that was all right. He'd had an idea anyway that she might be interested in.

As she looked at him in confusion, he explained, "Since you don't remember anything and I can't call you "kiddo" all the time, how about using the name 'Flora'? Just until you can remember your real name."

"Flora…," the girl murmured before looking at the tree once more, determination setting into her eyes.

She placed both hands on the tree's trunk. Obviously concentrating hard, a pale green glow slowly seeped throughout the entire tree and before their eyes, it began to change. The bark smoothed, branches healed, and leaves began to reappear. No longer did it look like a mangled piece of broken and blackened wood, but instead more like the flourishing tree it used to be.

Turning to Danny, she smiled, "I think I like that name. From now on, you can call me Flora."

The teenager could see an instant change the moment she healed the tree. Flora looked calmer, happier, and less frightened than before. He didn't know if it was because she gained some confidence from that little experiment or if the presence of a plant was just comforting to her. Either way, she wasn't crying and she seemed to be doing better than when he first met her. And since it was clear they weren't making any progress so far on figuring out what happened to her, she didn't seem too eager to leave the little floating island and her tree.

That was fine with him. He had school in a few hours, she was relatively safe here compared to having her crying in his parent's lab, and he didn't think the portal was too far away. Maybe about the distance of a few city blocks. She could use the land mass as a place to stay and practice any other abilities she could possibly have. And he could come back and check on her after school was over. It would give him time to come up with a better idea than "fly around aimlessly and hope for the best." Maybe Sam and Tucker could come up with something.

"Danny…"she called abruptly, a slight frown of confusion on her face." I don't know why I was in that strange place, but why were you there?"

He tensed slightly in response to her question. It wasn't exactly a secret among the ghosts, but he didn't exactly go around announcing it to them either. He stared at her for a moment, the ghost girl looking back at him questioningly. Then he surrendered and began the explanation.

"You see Flora… that 'strange place' is a lab," he explained. "And it belongs to my parents that's why I was there."

Flora tilted her head to the side in confusion, "Does that mean you're haunting that place with your family…?"

The question, while vaguely reasonable, caused Danny to laugh.

"No…No… That's not it, Kiddo...," Danny chuckled before sighing. "You see… I'm only half ghost, according to what the other ghosts say. I'm apparently a 'halfa'" He couldn't resist making the quotation marks in the air in exasperation.

"A halfa?" Flora asked, confusion clear on her face.

Danny gave a sad smile and replied, "It means I'm still half human"

Upon saying that, two white rings appeared around his middle. To Flora's obvious shock, they moved over Danny's form and changed his appearance. No longer did he have white hair and glowing green eyes while wearing a black jumpsuit. Instead, he had dark black hair with light blue eyes and wearing a t-shirt and jeans. He was used to the transformation by now, more or less. And most of the ghosts he fought didn't really care since they already hated him for getting in the way and nothing he did would affect that. But she looked absolutely shocked.

Silence stretched between them as Flora took in his other form and Danny felt himself tense slightly, part of him wondering if he should expect a violent reaction from her after all. Cautiously, Flora reached out her hand to touch his cheek, only for her fingers to go through and making her jump.

"S-Sorry, N-not good at solid..." she stammered before looking down.

The reaction sparked a small smile from the teen. Yeah, he remembered his own trouble mastering the art of not going through solid objects. Like the ground or his desk.

Glancing back at him, she asked, "Then, you still 'live' there?"

"No pun intended? Yeah," Danny nodded, chuckling. "You're not freaked out?"

Flora shook her head quickly in reply.

"I'm a scary ghost that has no memories and doesn't even know how to be a ghost, so you got off easy," she scoffed with an almost-joking pouting, but there was still a mournful demeanor that surrounded her.

It cleared, however, when he wrapped an arm around her. True, this wasn't how he originally pictured his night. But it wasn't so bad. And he felt like he was meant to keep an eye on her. Maybe she ended up in his parents' lab for a reason. Regardless, he would do the right thing.

"Well then, I guess you and me are just gotta walk this through together then," Danny stated as he grinned down at her

Hearing that, Flora beamed and nodded.

* * *

><p>A couple of weeks passed by as Danny helped Flora adjust to the Ghost Zone, along with her abilities. When he wasn't off fighting wayward ghosts causing trouble, working his way through school, or hanging out with friends, he was checking on Flora and training. It was a learning experience for both of them as they discovered new abilities and new parts to the Ghost Zone. Trying to teach her forced him to work on those same skills himself, albeit he lacked her skills with plants. It also made him feel proud that he'd managed to learn these different abilities well enough to pass them on to someone else. At least she didn't have to depend on trial and error like he did when learning the basics. So far, Flora was able to master flying, intangibility, invisibility, along with healing and manipulating how plants grew, albeit slowly.<p>

They still tried to find a way to jog her memories, but the only clues they had were still the music box and medallion that Flora had when Danny first found her. When he asked her about it, she'd thought long and hard about it. She wanted to remember and tried her best. If she could remember even something from before the teenager finding her, maybe she'd have some answers. So she searched her practically-nonexistent memories and the first thing that came to mind was what seemed like a dream. But she told Danny when he asked just in case it meant something more to him than it did to her.

"All I can remember is someone giving me this music box and telling me to never open it until we meet again and to never take off this medallion ever," she relayed, lifting the necklace slightly as she traced the initials. "The person looked strange, but he felt safe. I think he was my guardian angel," she told Danny.

The description seemed to amuse him as he took a closer look at the music box. Sure enough, it couldn't be opened. It seemed that it needed a key to open and neither one of them had any idea where to find such a key. As such, they had to search for other means of learning Flora's past.

When Flora wasn't developing her abilities or trying to regain her memories, she would try and construct her own place to stay in the Ghost Zone. She'd pretty much claimed the floating island with the formerly-withered tree, but she was trying to make it better. This was her domain, her home. And she fully intended to make it perfect using her new abilities and Danny's help. So far, however, the only progress she made was growing the tree she had first healed and slowly hollowing it out. The center of a tree, even a healthy one, wasn't actually alive. So hollowing out the center while making sure not to harm the outer rings, didn't do any damage and gave her a shelter. Yes, it didn't rain in the Ghost Zone, so she didn't technically need shelter. But she liked having a place to curl up out of sight and hide away.

If she wasn't doing either of those things, she would head out and explore the Ghost Zone. She was trying to find a way to familiarize herself with it. The place was so big and strange. And she needed to explore it now to avoid getting lost later.

One day while she was off exploring, she heard surprisingly what sounded like singing. And with her curious nature, Flora decided to find the source. She followed the music, dodging past random floating doors and a couple of small land chunks barely large enough to stand on.

She soon found herself at what seemed to be another floating island, a rather large one, which strangely seemed to have a strange skull formation made out of stone on one end of it. Most of the land mass was covered in what appeared to be a jungle, but one section seemed more open. And from what Flora could tell, that was where the music was originating from.

Stopping by a large boulder on the ground, she peeked around. It looked like she landed near a beach on the edge of the jungle. There was sand and even a little bit of ocean that abruptly dropped off at the edge of the island. Flora looked a little longer and soon saw where the singing was coming from. The source of the music was a pale young woman with long flaming teal hair pulled into a ponytail. And by flaming, she meant that the hair was literally made of fire. If the fact she had the same shade of green eyes that Flora and Danny hadn't proved it, the fire-hair would have been enough to demonstrate that she was also a ghost. She was wearing a tight black outfit and playing a purple guitar as she sang.

_"Oh, Ember, you will remember,_

_Ember, one thing remains,_

_Oh, Ember, so warm and tender,_

_You will remember my name."_

It was the prettiest singing that Flora had ever heard, at least as far as she could remember, but at the same time it sounded so sad. Flora continued to listen until the very end and, once it finished, she couldn't help coming out and giving her an applause. The girl started slightly in surprise, but quickly smirked and took a bow.

"Your voice is very beautiful, Miss," Flora exclaimed.

Still smirking, the girl replied, "Thanks. The name's Ember, Babydoll. Don't wear it out." She twirling the guitar pick between her fingers for a moment. "Now, who are you and what are you doing here on Skulker's Island?" she asked, placing a hand on her hip and raising a brow at her.

Looking down and wringing her hands, Flora answered her, "I'm Flora… and well… I heard your pretty singing, so I decided to follow it and ended up here. Sorry."

She was blushing in embarrassment as she now realized that she had intruded into another person's domain. It would be like walking into someone's house without knocking. It seemed rude and some of the other ghosts she'd seen at a distance didn't seem to like intruders that much. Instead of anger as she had expected, however, she heard laughter and felt her hair being ruffled. Flora looked up to see Ember smiling down at her.

"Hey now, Babydoll, it's cool that you dig my singing. An audience is always welcome with me. Even if you are just a kid," she said, ruffling her hair once more. "But you better get out of here. Skulker hates intruders more than anyone."

Before Flora could ask who Skulker was, Ember took her hand and flew the both of them off of the island. Once they were a short distance away, Ember gave the girl a slight push.

"Now fly away, Babydoll. I'd hate to see my newest fan in his cross-hairs. See ya around," Ember told her, blowing her a kiss before flying back to the island.

Unsure of what to do next, she decided to head back to her domain and see what she could grow this time around. She'd been experimenting with wildflowers lately. For some reason, she really liked them and wanted to have lots of them around her territory. They were just so colorful and pretty.

On her way back, however, she started looking around for any dead plants that she could practice with and maybe take back with her. So far, she needed the plant to already exist before she could help it grow and flourish. But there seemed to be plenty of odd corners with plants in the Ghost Zone if she looked hard enough. It was easy enough to pick out a few sprouts that were crowded together or were shriveled up that she could take back to her domain whenever she went exploring. By scavenging these little seedlings and sprouts, she was turning the previously-barren floating island into something she could call home.

After her encounter with Ember (and wishing she'd picked up one of the plants from the jungle before leaving), she already managed to collect a bundle in her arms. Her journey back was then interrupted when she bumped into someone.

"Hey! Watch where ya goin'!" she heard a voice cry out on impact.

She looked up to see a young woman with layered green hair and bright red eyes. She looked around Ember's age or maybe a little younger. She was wearing wearing a red jacket and skirt with a black shirt. But that wasn't what caught Flora's attention. What really caught her attention was that the older girl seemed to have been crying. And not just had been crying, but still was.

"I'm sorry. Are you okay?" Flora asked, looking at her in concern.

She saw the girl's eyes were shining with tears. She reminded Flora of how much she'd cried when Danny first met her, scared and confused. And he was so nice about it; hugging her and making her feel safer.

Obviously realizing that Flora could see her tears, the young woman turned away while still sniffling.

"None of ya business. Now go away" she grumbled.

"Well, I can't just leave when you're so sad," Flora exclaimed firmly.

Danny didn't leave her alone when she was sad. He'd done everything he could to fix it. It was only right that she do the same thing when someone else was obviously sad. She just didn't know what she could do to cheer up the sad young lady.

Flora looked down at her bundle of wilted plants and an idea lit up. Shuffling through her batch, she soon found a mostly-dead rose. Concentrating hard, she soon brought it back to life as a bright red bloom.

"Here," Flora said, holding out the newly healed rose. "Flowers always make me feel better, you can have this one. Please don't be sad."

Her words caught the other girl's attention, causing her to turn around. Seeing the rose, the girl gently took it and soon her frown turned into an amazed smile.

"Wow, it's so pretty. Thank you. So what's ya name, Sweet Pea?" she asked as she wiped away her tears.

Happy that the other girl wasn't sad anymore, she replied, "I'm Flora. What's yours?"

"I'm Kitty," the older girl answered as she fiddled around with the rose in her hand.

"That's a nice name. I like it. Why were you so sad before?" Flora asked.

Kitty sighed, "Oh… it's just some boy troubles, Sweet Pea. I don't think ya would understand."

The older ghost girl flew over to a small land mass and sat on it, still staring thoughtfully at the rose. She wasn't crying anymore, but she now seemed to be sulking slightly.

Seating next to her, Flora said, "Well, I'm still a good listener. Besides I'm a girl, so we can still talk about girly things if you want."

This announcement caused Kitty to laugh a little, completely dispelling the remains of her darker mood. And since that was Flora's goal, she was satisfied that she'd managed to cheer her up.

"Thanks, Sweet Pea," she told the young girl, giving her a one-armed hug around the shoulders.

And before they knew it, the two were chatting what seemed to be hours over random topics before Kitty had to leave. Receiving a final hug of thanks, Flora headed back to her domain.

* * *

><p>A week after having met Ember and Kitty, Flora started working on growing the small land mass she was staying on. The process mostly consisted of Danny shoving smaller chunks of rock and dirt against her land mass. Then she'd encourage some of her plants to grow their roots through the new section, knitting the entire thing together like stitches. The funny thing was that a few days later, she could fly underneath her island and wouldn't be able to tell where the borders used to be. It was like they were one solid mass to begin with. So far, the land that was once only a single meter with the tree smacked dab in the middle was now two meters long. It was exhausting work, but worth the effort in order to make a proper home for herself.<p>

And as her domain grew, she gained more room for her growing collection of plants. That also meant more work for her since some of her scavenged vegetation took a lot of effort to restore to ideal health. But she rather liked that particular chore. She liked helping her little flowers grow and bloom.

While she was sorting through different dead plants she had gathered, however, she heard the sudden roar of an engine. Startled, she dropped her load and peeked from behind her tree. Someone had landed on her domain.

It was a young man on a motorcycle, wearing a large greyish-black coat with a white shirt and black pants. He had blonde hair, a few scraggly things that might be considered facial hair, and green eyes. He seemed to be looking for something as he was scanning the area before grumbling and scratching his head in confusion.

"It's gotta be around here somewhere…"

Hesitantly, Flora moved from behind her tree and cautiously called out, "Umm…excuse me… but you're on my domain."

His head jerked up in surprise as her voice caught the young man's attention. He gave a slightly embarrassed smile.

"Oh! Hey there, Squirt…Wait…," he answered, looking around. "You live here? Kinda small, don't you think?"

Feeling equally embarrassed, Flora replied, "W-well, I'm still building it… A-anyway, who are you and why are you here?"

Her question was spoken with what she hoped sounded like authority as she tried to make herself seem taller. Her effort only seemed to end up making the young man laugh.

"Chill out, Squirt. The name's Johnny and I'm just looking for a portal," he answered as Flora pouted.

"And my name's Flora, not 'Squirt'," she retorted. "I don't know anything about the 'portal' you're looking for."

"Whatever, Squirt. If ya know nothing then, well... you know nothing," Johnny told her.

It was obvious that he was about to leave, but then something caught Flora's eyes that caused her to gasp in shock.

Confused about what could have caught her attention, Johnny followed her line of sight. She was staring at his shadow. There was something wrong with it. Flora stepped back when she saw that it actually moved by itself rather than just mirroring his movements. The girl looked at Johnny in question.

"Oh this? This is Shadow. He's my partner," Johnny stated. "Come on out, Shadow."

Right before Flora's eyes, a figure came from under Johnny. It was like watching something dark rising out of the ground. Or perhaps, something flat that became more three-dimensional. It was black and looked kind of scary, complete with glowing eyes from the darkness. Upon seeing it, Flora couldn't help it. She quickly hid behind her tree.

"Hey now, it's alright. Shadow ain't gonna hurt ya. Ain't that right, Shadow?" Johnny called to her.

Flora shyly moved out from behind the tree and walked back over to the pair. Silently, she stared at the creature before her who stared back. She started contemplating an idea, something that came out of nowhere. But she wanted to try it.

She hesitantly, but quickly poked Shadow before tensing and shutting her eyes. When nothing happened, she opened her eyes back up just a little. Johnny and Shadow stared at her. Then they stared at each other before Johnny burst into laughter.

"You're one funny kid, Squirt," he said, ruffling her hair.

She smiled at him. The strange shadow and his motorcycle-riding companion didn't seem too bad. And they weren't as scary as she first thought.

"See you around," he said, giving her a nod before driving off with Shadow following behind.

Somehow, Flora thought she had just made a new friend.

* * *

><p>A few more days passed in relative peace and quiet. Then one afternoon while Flora was training her plant-growing abilities, she felt something under her foot that didn't seem quite right. When she lifted it, her eyes widened in shock. She couldn't quite believe what she saw. She quickly crouched on the ground for a closer look and to her delight, she was right. She had somehow created a small patch of grass. Not just caused by a nearly-dead section to start sprouting again. An entirely new plant had formed by her powers.<p>

Wanting to share this news, she quickly flew off in search of the way to Danny's home. She had to inform him. She had to share this exciting news. Wouldn't he be impressed with how much she could do now? It was amazing.

It didn't take long, however, for her to realize she didn't recognize her surroundings. She should have seen the strange doorway to his parents' lab fairly quickly. She didn't go there often since he said his parents liked to hunt ghosts, but she sort of knew where the doorway was supposed be. At least, she thought she did. Somehow without realizing it, she must have the wrong way. And because of the chaotic nature of the Ghost Zone, getting a little lost could quickly lead to being very lost.

She flew around in search of the doorway to Danny's place. She ignored the growing frustration and nervousness that she wouldn't be able to figure out how to get there or how to get back to her domain. She'd been doing so well at navigating certain sections of the Ghost Zone, but now she didn't know where she was. She'd just wanted to show Danny what she could do now.

Then, she spotted a tiny glimmer of hope. Finding a familiar looking swirling circle, she quickly went over to it and dove through. She started to smile, certain that she'd found her way back to familiar territory after all, only to pause as she got out and actually saw her surroundings. Looking around, Flora didn't recognize this lab at all. It was certainly a lab of some type, filled with all sorts of strange machinery and other scientific-looking equipment. But it wasn't the one she'd originally found herself in. It was larger, a little brighter, and just... different. Looking back, she saw instead of the hexagon shaped doorway it was a pentagon one. This wasn't Danny's home.

"Where am I?" she murmured, going over to different parts of the lab to see if she could recognize anything whatsoever.

Sadly, the more she looked the more alien the things looked to her. The cabinets and counter tops were in different positions, there wasn't a set of stairs in the far corner, and equipment sitting in plain sight didn't even appear similar to the strange things she'd seen that night.

Suddenly, she heard footsteps from behind and turned around hoping to see a familiar black-haired boy. Or the familiar white-haired boy. She'd settle for either of his two forms at that moment. That was not the case, however.

Instead of a black-haired and blue-eyed boy, she was greeted by the sight of a silver-haired and blue-eyed man. He was old, at least old enough to be a parent. And he was wearing a black suit that looked really fancy and expensive. He also had a little bit of a beard and expression of extreme confusion on his face.

The two stared at each for what seemed like several minutes before Flora blushed in embarrassment.

"I-I'm so sorry, I thought this was another…I'm sorry, excuse me!" she cried before diving back through the doorway before she made things worse.

* * *

><p>He hadn't expected to find a strange ghost in his lab. And he'd certainly hadn't expected to find a young girl ghost in his lab. But he'd experienced many odd and unusual things over the course of his life. Many of which easily eclipses this particular event.<p>

So it should be easy enough to shrug off the entire situation as a random accident. She'd obviously never meant to intrude and didn't seem eager to remain any longer once the mistake became clear. And considering the population of the Ghost Zone, he highly doubted that he would ever encounter her again.

She was at least polite and apologized about the entire situation.

The man stared after to her, a look of contemplation briefly crossing his face. There was something not quite right about this. There was a nagging sensation that he could easily enough identify, but couldn't explain. He didn't know why he was feeling this. It didn't make sense. This was just a strange, unique, and one-in-a-million-chance moment.

So why did he feel this odd sense of déjà vu?


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 2

It had been nearly five weeks since Danny had found her. Somehow, it didn't seem nearly that long.

At the moment they were at her domain, having just finished adding another meter to it. The small floating island was steadily growing to a far more impressive size as they worked off and on. Each little chunk of land that was added to the total mass made the area seem more like a real home territory instead of a tiny hiding spot.

Flora was showing him how much she had progressed after discovering that she could now grow new plants instead of just reviving dead ones. The ghost girl was so happy with her new trick, even if it was a lot harder and tiring to create new plants. And it made it a lot easier when attaching new pieces of land to her domain when she could grow plants instantly to sink the roots and connect them.

She beamed at Danny's praise at her new development, happy that he was as excited about her new skill as she was, before beckoning him to her tree shelter. She liked her cozy little hideout, tucked inside the tree she'd first discovered and healed. After much work, the inside no longer looked like a hollow shell and instead rather looked like a tiny room. It was kind of barren with only her music box resting on a twist-of-wood-formed shelf to decorate it. But nestled at the side of the space was a curve of roots made to look like a bed.

"What do you think?" Flora asked him as they both shuffled back out again.

Stretching from having to crouch so low in her tiny home, Danny looked over to her and smiled, "You've been a busy bee, haven't you, Kiddo?"

He ruffled her hair affectionately at that statement. Flora nodded as they both took a seat on another section of roots outside to rest.

Looking at Danny, a thought came to Flora's mind. All these weeks Danny had done everything he could to help her and she was deeply grateful for it. But now that she thought about it, she barely knew Danny. She knew that he was a halfa, fought with other ghosts causing trouble among the humans, and was a generally good person, but other than that… It unnerved her that as much as she knew about Danny's personality, she knew very little of his background.

She couldn't share any details about her life with him. She didn't know anything about her past. But weren't friends supposed to talk about different things? And if she couldn't talk with him about who she was, they could at least talk about him. That seemed fair. With that determination setting her in motion, she turned to Danny.

"Danny, can you tell me about your family? Do you look like your mommy, or your daddy?" she asked him, his shift in expression showing that she obviously startled him with the out of the blue question.

If she wanted to get to know about him, Flora knew that her best bet was to find out about his family first. It seemed like the obvious topic and she knew that he still had family and parents, which was more than she knew about herself.

He stared at her in confusion before raising an eyebrow at her, "Why the sudden question, Kiddo?"

Though she thought it was a reasonable question, Flora also knew that it was a little abrupt to suddenly ask about his family. Her question pretty much came out of nowhere. Maybe she should have found an easier way to start the conversation than just blurting out the first idea to spring into her head. Embarrassed, she looked down at her lap and fiddled with the hem of her dress.

"It's just… I want to know you better… You're the first friend I've made after all," she murmured a green flush coming to her face.

She had thought she had just made herself even more foolish by saying so. This wasn't going exactly how she'd hoped at all. But Danny simply chuckled at this and ruffled her hair once more.

"All right then… Well… I do look like my dad in looks, but I definitely got my mom's figure," he started to explain before he saw the look of confusion on Flora's face. "You see, my dad's on the big side and my mom's pretty skinny, I guess…"

He stared scratching his head as he thought more about what to say. She could tell that he hadn't really ever thought about how to describe his family that much. Also, she could see that Danny was somewhat uncomfortable talking about his parents. The girl decided to help him out a little and tried to think of another question.

"Do you have any siblings?" Flora asked, curious to know more about what Danny's life was like growing up.

Danny nodded, "An older sister. Her name's Jasmine, but everyone calls her Jazz. She's got ginger hair and blue eyes like mine, but lighter."

Flora continued, "What's she like?"

"She's super smart definitely, but a real nag," Danny stated with a snort. "Jazz would scold me all the time to do better in school. And she can be a total worrywart and butt into my business when I don't want her to. But she isn't actually a bad sister. Just overprotective really." He smiled a little, "I can sort of understand her reactions a little better now than I used to."

She liked that description. It sounded kind of nice. Having an older sibling was probably pretty amazing, even if they weren't always perfect. Thinking hard, Flora came to another question.

"What about your friends? Are they nice?" she asked him, hoping that they were.

Flora knew that with how nice Danny was, he would have really great friends. And she hoped she could be friends with them too. As much as she liked the friends she had made in the Ghost Zone, she was still curious about the humans.

She knew that she was a scary ghost now, but that didn't mean she wanted to hurt anyone. On the contrary, she wanted to cause as little trouble as possible. Unlike all the ghosts that Danny told her about that he had to fight all the time. She didn't want to scare people and become the scary ghost they expected her to be. So if she could be friends with Danny's friends, then maybe she can befriend other humans.

"Well, I've got two best friends. Their names are Sam and Tucker," Danny answered. "Sam's a Goth and Tucker's a… techno-geek, I guess you could say." Looking at her he smiled, "Sam would definitely like you, you know. She loves the environment."

He reached around, giving her a one-armed hug.

"What do you mean?" Flora inquired.

She knew that a lot of people loved the environment, but the way Danny described Sam's reaction made her seem different. Why would Sam love her? Was it because she had plant-oriented abilities? Would Sam really like her that quickly just because of it? Could it really be that simple?

"You could say she's an ultra-recyclo vegetarian and totally pro-nature, no matter what," Danny told her with a grin.

Flora nodded as she tried to process the information. She had no idea what an "ultra-recyclo vegetarian" was, but it sounded sort of strange. Maybe it was like a normal vegetarian. Weren't those the types of people who didn't like eating meat? That sounded right. That meant that Sam would probably like eating salads and fruits and stuff. Maybe that was why Danny thought Sam would like her a lot. She could grow plants and all she would eat was plants. That made a little sense.

"Can I… meet them?" asked Flora.

She really wanted too. She wanted to know the people that made Danny happy when he wasn't helping her out. She wanted to meet new people. She liked meeting new people because it kept her from feeling lonely.

"Now that you mention it…," Danny stated, apparently thinking back. "I was talking to them a few weeks ago. It was the day after I met you…"

* * *

><p><em>Having gotten barely any sleep from the previous night due to his flight through the Ghost Zone, Danny was completely exhausted the next day. Luckily enough, he was able to stay awake long enough to escape Dash and pay a little attention to class. Or at least keep his eyes vaguely open in Mr. Lancer's direction so that he gave the impression of paying attention. But whenever he was with his friends, he often found himself falling asleep. By lunch, he nearly fell asleep face-first in his food. Only the timely intervention by friends stopped him before he smothered himself with mashed potatoes. Blearily opening his eyes, he saw his friends looking at him in concern.<em>

_"Yo, Danny, are you all right? You've been falling asleep all day," Tucker asked him while gripping Danny's shoulder to steady him._

_Sam nodded in agreement, "I thought there weren't any ghost troubles last night. What happened?"_

_"You're… wrong…" Danny yawned. "There… was… a ghost…," he told them, rubbing his eyes._

_His answer startled them both. They exchanged shocked looks before leaning in to get more answers from their friend. Unfortunately, Danny was already falling asleep once more, his head tilting dangerously close to his tray again._

_This irritated Sam enough that she took Danny by the shoulders and shook him quite violently. The action quickly woke him as he flailed in a panic and cried out, telling Sam to quit it before he got whiplash. It did seem to help with his drowsiness a little at least._

_Once he was released, Danny leaned in and told them, "I'll tell you about it after school, all right?"_

_And before they could ask any questions or shake him further, he picked up his tray and left the table. His friends stared after him a moment before Sam sighed and Tucker shrugged his shoulders and they followed him._

_After managing a few more classes in a state of semi-consciousness, the bell finally rang for them to go home. The minute he stood, however, Danny found himself being dragged away by his friends. With Sam holding onto his left arm and Tucker grabbing his right, the pair pulled him all the way down the hall without a single word. He could only imagine how odd they looked. On the other hand, Danny somehow doubted this was the weirdest thing ever done by a Fenton. The entire town of Amity Park probably witnessed his dad do stranger things on a daily basis._

_They managed to drag him all the way to a park, which wasn't that far from school, before they sat him down by a tree. Then the pair sat on either side of him, giving him nowhere to escape even if he wanted to. Out of nowhere, Sam then splashed his face with a bottle of water, making him splutter in surprise._

_"All right, Danny. Tell us what happened and no falling asleep this time. Did a ghost attack last night after we all headed home for the evening?" Sam asked, Tucker nodding in concern beside her while Danny wiped the water off his face._

_"There was a ghost, but it didn't attack," Danny told them carefully, instantly causing confusion._

_Yeah, he knew this was going to be hard to explain. Especially considering the types of ghosts they'd run into before Flora. Between the Lunch Lady, Technus, and Skulker, the ghosts the dealt with tended to always attack the moment they appeared._

_Scratching his head Danny, leaned against the tree and continued, "You won't believe it, but the ghost I met last night was a little girl. I mean, like a really little girl. She looked like she was six or seven or something. She just showed up in the basement. What's more," he leaned towards them a little, "she apparently has amnesia."_

_"No way! You serious?!" Tucker cried out._

_Danny nodded, "She freaked out when we went into the Ghost Zone…"_

_His explanation was abruptly interrupted by Sam, "Hold on, you went to the Ghost Zone?!"_

_"Dude, are you crazy?!" Tucker explained. "Every single ghost that wants to beat you to a pulp is in there. Along with who knows how many others. Going in there without at least a plan or some backup is crazy."_

_Danny raised his hands in surrender, protesting, "It was the best idea at the time. What was I supposed to do?!"_

_Sam leaned in and, obviously trying to get back on track, asked, "So? What happened?"_

_Danny gradually began telling them what occurred that night. When he told them about Flora's apparent plant-oriented abilities, Sam was ecstatic. She began rambling on about having her help on her protests and such, just like Danny predicted she would. From behind her, Tucker and Danny rolled their eyes at her ranting. He could already picture the gas-guzzling cars of the world being swallowed up with vines and ivy if Sam had her way._

_After a few minutes, Tucker pulled Danny to the side. A quick look caused the half-host boy to frown. Something was wrong. While Danny knew Sam would be excited, he hadn't predicted the look of concern and suspicion on Tucker's face at the news._

_"Tuck, what's wrong?" Danny asked him with a brow raised._

_Sure, he knew that Tucker tended have a slightly higher level of paranoia when it came to situations. Unless it had to do with the idea of technology rising up against humanity in a dark and distant future. Tucker had a huge blind spot when it came to technology being anything other than wonderful. But when it came to any other situation that could go wrong, Tucker tended to be a little twitchier than the rest of them. And that was sometimes useful with ghost problems. It was good to have someone ask the obvious questions about what could go wrong. However, he didn't expect Tucker to go into paranoia mode in regards to Flora._

_"Danny, can you really trust this ghost?" Tucker asked him, grabbing him by the shoulders. "She may look like just a kid, but you can't be sure. For all we know, we could be dealing with three hundred year old ghost who is just messing with you. What if she's just trying to trick you so she can attack you later? I mean, based on the other ghosts we've ran into so far, it is a possibility."_

_While he could sort of see his point, the idea still annoyed Danny. He'd spent the previous evening comforting a frightened and confused Flora, helping her in any way he could, and it seemed impossible to imagine that she was faking it as part of some plan. In all that time around her so far, it was obvious to Danny that she was just a sweet and lost kid._

_Sam stopped in her eco-conservation planning, apparently having heard Tucker's suspicions. She quickly stormed over to the two, irritation clear on her face. Obviously the idea of a little kid combined with her love of all things plant-related meant Flora was instantly under Sam's protection, even if she hadn't even met her yet._

_"I can't believe you, Tucker," she cried out, "I mean, yeah, she's a ghost, but you heard Danny. We're talking about a kid with amnesia here!"_

_"That's her story. She could be pretending."_

_She glared at him, "You're just jealous that the technology-based ghost turned out to be evil while the plant one is a little kid."_

_"I'm not jealous. I'm just pointing out that we don't have a good track record when it comes to ghosts. Most of them want to haunt the town or attack Danny. Or both. Every other ghost has turned out to be a problem for us."_

_"Which means we're overdue for a nice one to pop up."_

_Danny didn't know at what to do about the situation. As he watched the two argue back and forth, he thought carefully about his options. At one point, Tucker hid behind him when Sam gave him a death glare, prompting Danny to roll his eyes. But even after the bespectacled teen took shelter behind his best friend, he still continued to argue with Sam in regards to Flora._

_On the one hand, Danny knew what he saw when he met Flora and Tucker's current refusal to trust his judgment about her harmlessness kind of irked him. But Tucker did have a point about their track record when it came to ghosts, sadly enough. Every other ghost they encountered was at least somewhat aggressive and normally caused trouble for everyone in the area until he caught them. It made sense to be wary of Flora, especially since they hadn't met her yet._

_Sighing deeply, he called out, "All right, guys. Break it up."_

_Catching their attention, they turned to look at him. With a quick pat to the spots in front of him, the two of them followed his indicated request to sit down._

_"Look, obviously you both are already forming some assumptions about her. And neither of you are going to change your minds without further evidence. So I only see one possible solution. At some point in the near future, I'd like you meet her," Danny stated._

_There was a brief moment of startled silence before the two of them opened their mouths to speak. Before his friends could start up another round on arguing and debating, Danny held up a hand to stop them._

_Then he turned towards Sam and offered, "The moment she's settled and able to control her new powers, we'll arrange something. I don't want to drag her all over town when she just figured out how to fly last night. Especially since the only way to get her out of the Ghost Zone would be through my parents' lab. But sometime after that, I want you guys to meet her. We'll head over to your house, all right? It'll be the easiest way to do this. It might take a while, though. So you'll have to be patient. Okay?"_

_There was some slight hesitation, especially on Tucker's part. But Danny knew his friends. And even if he was a little suspicious of the situation, Tucker did trust Danny most of the time. So in the end, his two friends agreed._

* * *

><p>Hearing all that, Flora couldn't help feeling a little guilty.<p>

"I'm sorry your friends fought because of me," she murmured, feeling at fault for the entire situation.

But the moment of guilt didn't last long because a hand lifted her chin, her eyes meeting Danny's. He gave her a brief smile.

"Hey now, it's not your fault. Tucker was just feeling paranoid. We don't have a lot of experience with ghosts who are causing trouble, so he kind of started assuming the worst. Once they meet you, they'll definitely like you and everything will be fine. I'm positive," he told her, clearly trying to cheer her up.

* * *

><p>He didn't mean to make her feel guilty about his friends arguing. Over the weeks since Danny met her, he'd found out one thing. He hated seeing Flora sad. Above all things, he didn't want to see her sad and crying ever again. It wasn't just that he disliked seeing people upset or that he disliked it when little kids were sad. Having Flora specifically being upset was just something that he wanted to avoid at all costs<p>

In all these weeks spent with Flora, Danny rather enjoyed himself. He found it strangely fun hanging out with Flora and helping her out with her powers. He felt proud when she accomplished something new. Yet he also felt helpless and angry when he couldn't find anything to jog her memory. He wanted to help her, to do everything he could to make the little kid happy and safe.

It was strange, but it reminded him a little bit of how Jazz used to help him with his homework back when they were small. That was back before she started acting too grown up and pushy with her supposedly-mature attitude, annoying him more than comforting him. She always tried to watch out for him and help him when things went wrong. Actually, she was still trying to do the same thing now, even if it wasn't as useful anymore. All in all, Jazz was still a good older sister.

And that similarity made Danny realize that he was starting to more or less treat Flora as a little sister.

…Huh.

Well, he always wanted a little sibling. Though at the time he'd been picturing a little brother instead of a little ghost girl he'd sort of taken in like a stray dog. But he wasn't going to complain.

"Are you sure it'll be okay? Promise?" she asked with a glare and a pout.

Though she tried to look stern, it only served to make her look cuter. Because of this, Danny couldn't help but to laugh and give her a one-armed hug once again.

"Promise. Now, how about this?" Danny suggested. "Tomorrow night, you'll meet me near the portal. Then I'll bring you to meet them at Sam's place. It's a Friday tomorrow, so it'll be safe and we won't have school in the morning if it takes a while. And Sam's parents will be out that evening, which is even better. I'll have to double-check with Sam and Tucker, but it should work out for them. That okay with you?"

Thinking about it, she apparently decided it was a good plan. He couldn't see any problem with it and Flora probably had nothing else to do anyway. Her plants didn't need constant care. So he wasn't surprised when she nodded in acceptance. With that, Danny gave her one last hug before flying off home. He still needed to finish his paper for Mr. Lancer.

* * *

><p>Flora waved at Danny briefly before heading to her shelter. She was going to be meeting his friends the next day. She hoped she would make a good first impression. She couldn't remember dealing with humans rather than ghosts, not counting Danny half the time. She didn't want to do something wrong.<p>

Going over to a corner of her hidey-hole, she thought carefully on what to do. It sounded like she would have to be especially careful about not upsetting Tucker. Sam at least seemed to already like her, but that could change too. She would have to be very careful and be on her best behavior when she met them.

Her thoughts about the upcoming visit were abruptly interrupted as she heard something outside. She didn't recognize the noise, but there were a lot of things she didn't recognize since her memories only stretched back a few weeks. Careful not to make a sound, she slowly stepped out her shelter to take a look.

Silently, she peeked around and was confused at the sight before her. She'd seen several strange things since she arrived in Danny's basement, but this one was definitely new. Tilting her head to the side, she studied the oddity.

It looked like some strange bird creature. It was a dark green with three red eyes on the front of each of its two faces. The beaks were curved into a sharp point. Its heads were perched on the top of a pair of flexible and long necks that were constantly craning around, letting the strange bird peer at its surroundings. The creature was a little larger than her with black feathers on its wings. After a moment, it repeated the previous sound: a loud squawking hiss that sounded predatory. Flora wasn't certain that she wanted to get too close to it.

Suddenly, something took a shot at it and it dove away, becoming invisible as it flew. Between the abrupt attack and the creature taking flight, Flora cringed against her tree.

Following after the fleeing bird-thing was another strange ghost. This one was more humanoid than the creature he was following, but he didn't look completely human-ish either. He looked more like a robot really. Most of him seemed to be the dull grey color of metal. She thought she could even see a few bolts. Coming out his arm was some kind of blaster thing, adding more evidence that he was some type of robotic ghost. The figure was tall in height with flaming green hair, glowing eyes, and short beard also made of green flames.

Flora felt intimidated by this strange man with weapons, but he was still intruding. Something about letting this ghost march all over her home without permission annoyed her. It was rude. She might not have the biggest domain, but it was still hers. At least when she wandered into someone else's territory, she apologized and left if they wanted her to. He should at least do the same thing. It was only fair. So she gathered all of her courage and moved out from behind her tree.

"E-Excuse me…" Flora called, nervousness causing her to stutter. "B-But you're standing on my domain…"

Her voice, however shaky, apparently caught his attention. The tall figure looked over at her, raising a brow. She did her best to look stern, even if the expression usually just caused Danny to laugh and ruffle her hair. The strange ghost looked around the domain slowly and then lowered his weapon. Which, to Flora's surprise, retracted back into his arm with a few mechanical sounds and left no trace of the blaster thing.

"Apologies, Child. I am currently hunting a beast at the moment. Have you seen where it went?" he asked her.

His voice was deep, but didn't sound as scary as Flora thought. And he did apologize. Still, she still felt a little nervous of his size and the fact he had a weird weapon that could pop out of his arm like that. Who knows how many other blaster things he might have?

"I-I think I saw it, but who are you, Sir?" Flora asked him, hoping he wouldn't be mad by her question.

Thankfully he didn't seem to be, answering calmly, "I am Skulker, the greatest hunter in the entire Ghost Zone. And who are you, Child?"

The name sounded familiar, but it took her a moment to remember where she'd heard it. When she met Ember, she'd said that the island she was playing music on was Skulker's island. This was probably the person she was talking about.

"I'm Flora," she answered simply. "I live here. And the 'beast' you're looking for? It's right behind you."

She pointed at the bird thing, no longer invisible, lurking a short distance away. Noticing it was once again at the center of attention, the creature abruptly tried to escape.

Turning around, Skulker spotted the fleeing beast and cried, "I've got you now!"

With that, the ghost sprouted a pair of rockets and chased after it. The sounds of his weapon blasting away lasted long after he was out of sight.

Bewildered at the sudden and odd event, Flora stood there for a few moments. After gathering herself and making sure than another ghost wasn't going to randomly land on her domain, she went to begin her training.

Most of her training consisted of practicing the various powers she had. She flew, turned invisible, worked on growing her tree and other plants a little, and mostly just tried to get better at using them quickly and easily. Danny's training usually included target practice, but she didn't have any kind of blasting abilities. So she worked on what she could do and did her best to make sure that she understood how to use her powers effectively.

The moment she finished her exercises, though, she felt at loss. She really didn't have anything to do until the next night, though time was difficult to judge in the Ghost Zone. She'd even taken care of all the plants she'd collected so far. Seeing nothing else to do with her free time, she decided to set out to explore.

She didn't want to get lost again, so Flora made sure to pay close attention to the various landmarks that she passed. It was hard since she'd started to realize that not all the floating islands and doors remained in the same place, but some of them remained in the right areas. If she was lucky, she should still be able to trace her path back home later.

While flying around, she spotted what seemed to be a floating building. While she'd seen odd houses and buildings before, this one really caught her attention. There was something about it that made her want to go inside. Flying closer, Flora felt excitement fill her for some strange reason that she couldn't explain. As she looked at the building more carefully, it almost seemed to resemble a library.

Before she realized it, Flora was flying towards the door. She couldn't help it. Something about the place was drawing her in and it felt like part of the world made sense again. She'd found a library and it was so wonderful.

She marveled at the shelves upon shelves of books before her. They seemed to stretch as far as the eye could see. There were so many books. Some were thick while others were tiny things. They all appeared to be leather-bound books and a few had bookmarks poking out of the tops of them. And as she looked at the numerous volumes filled the space, Flora couldn't stop smiling. She might not be able to remember anything of her past, but she knew without a doubt that libraries were good.

Going over to one of the shelves, she touched one of the books' spines cautiously. The title read "Gulliver's Travels," catching her interest. She quickly scanned over many spines, finding most of them strangely familiar. She didn't know all the stories; she was sure of that for some reason. But maybe she'd seen or heard some of their names before. Maybe she'd been to a place, another library or even this one, where she'd seen these books before. She didn't know if that was true, but it would be nice to at least pretend she had a clue to her past.

She continued looking over the many books, quite happy with her discovery, until she suddenly heard a throat clear.

"Excuse me, but what exactly are you doing in my domain?" a voice asked from behind her.

Turning around, she saw the ghost was a young man. He looked older than Ember, Johnny, and Kitty, but not really old enough to be considered "old." He had pale, grayish skin and pointy teeth. His hair was black and he had short beard. His eyes were green with a pair of purple-rimmed glasses in front of them. He was wearing a grey outfit with a sweater and slacks. There was a scarf around his neck and a purple coat on his back. He also looked quite annoyed, with arms folded and an irritated expression clear on his face.

"I-I'm sorry…" Flora apologized. "I didn't know this was your domain, it's just…" She stared wistfully at the books before continuing, "I don't remember anything for sure, but I feel that I used to… No, I do love reading."

The ghost blinked at her, her answer apparently surprising him that the annoyance at her trespassing evaporating.

"You… love books? Why… I thought children your age preferred running around and playing, not reading. In fact, I thought you would find it, 'boring'," the man told her.

Flora responded quickly with a shake of a head. How could someone say that? The more she thought about it, the more certain she was that she loved reading a lot more than running around like he suggested. She didn't even know her old name, but she knew that libraries filled with books somehow made her happy.

"That's no fun for me. Books have everything that's fun, in fact. Knights and dragons! Pirates and treasure! Magic and adventure! Oh, books make everything sound so exciting!" she gushed.

The man stared at her in shock for a moment, but he seemed to realize she was being honest. And apparently the idea of a child that loved books as much as she did was enough to soften him the rest of the way.

"Well, it appears I stand corrected. It's certainly a nice surprise to see someone so young who obviously loves the written word as I do. Oh pardon my rudeness, I haven't introduced myself properly yet," he smiled, the pointy teeth seeming more charming than threatening. "I am Ghost Writer," the man introduced himself with a bow. "And who are you, little one?"

Flora curtsied and replied, "My name is Flora. It's very nice to meet you…" She hesitated a moment before deciding to test her luck. "Um…Can I… read your books, sir?" she asked, her eyes shining in hope and excitement.

Smiling at the little ghost girl's eagerness, Ghost Writer led her to a shelf. These books weren't as thick as the others she'd been looking at, but she didn't mind.

"Let's see what we can find that would interest a young reader such as yourself. Would you like to try one with pictures for starters and work our way from there?" he asked before the two began exploring the books.

* * *

><p>With an armful of books and a new friend, Flora finally exited the building. They'd figured out about which books in his collection would fit her reading ability and would also interest her. He also promised to look into picking out a few more for next time she visited. The entire idea left a huge grin on her face.<p>

Looking back, she waved Ghost Writer goodbye, yelling she'd be careful with them and would return the books once she finished reading them. In return, he promised that he'd let her read his poem he'd been working on once it was finished.

While on her way back to her domain, however, a ghost suddenly popped up in front of her.

"BEWARE!" it yelled at her, surprising her enough that she nearly lost her grip on her books.

But upon taking a proper look at the ghost before her, Flora found herself more amused than anything. He didn't look like anyone to beware of. He seemed rather ordinary. The ghost appeared to be a short and round blue-skinned man wearing overalls and a knitted cap of some kind pulled over dark hair. Compared to Skulker or even Shadow, he wasn't that scary.

"Hello, who are you? My name is Flora," Flora stated, adjusting her grip on books in her arms.

"Beware!" the ghost yelled once more. "For I am the Box Ghost. Do you not find me gruesome and frightening?!"

Even though she could tell what he wanted her to say, Flora could only reply with a shake of head.

"No. But you're real funny, Mister. I live not far from here. It's small, but it's my garden all the same. Maybe you can visit sometime? It'd be nice to have another friend," she told him cheerfully before flying off to her domain once more.

She heard the yelling behind her, but only giggled again at his antics. He was definitely one of the odder ghosts she'd met so far. But he didn't seem dangerous, so that was all right.

Once she reached her home, she entered her tree and placed the books on her shelf next to her music box. She then took one book and opened it, sitting on her bed. She read for what seemed like hours, immersing herself in the stories.

But her reading time wasn't continuous. She stopped in the middle of the story when visitors arrived at her home. Not intruders like earlier. And not Danny, who had been her only reliable visitor. Instead, other familiar faces had apparently decided to show up.

The first to see her was Ember, the musician saying she was in the area and thought she'd seen Flora around this corner of the Ghost Zone before. She'd muttered something about Skulker shoving an annoying squawking thing in a cage before she perched herself on the one of the tree roots and started tuning her guitar casually.

Then Kitty showed up, ruffling her hair and simply wanting to chat. She'd been surprised to see Ember, but quickly adapted. The moment Kitty mentioned the words "boy trouble," both older girls started chatting like crazy while Flora asked questions or offered suggestions whenever they paused for a second.

For the rest of the day Flora, found herself practicing with her powers, reading, and chatting with visiting friends. And for the most part, she considered it to be perfect.

* * *

><p>The next day, however, she was in the middle of reading the second chapter on her book when she was pleasantly interrupted again. Flora heard her name being called and she recognized that voice anywhere. Placing her book down, she went outside to see Danny and quickly greeted him with a smile and a hug.<p>

"So…," Danny started. "My friends and I agreed that you'll meet them tonight for sure. I'll lead you to the place and there shouldn't be any problems. Is that all right with you?"

Flora couldn't help hesitating slightly when she heard that. As much as she wanted to meet them, she was scared. She didn't want them to dislike her because she was a ghost. Ghosts were scary to humans; she knew that sort of like she knew she liked libraries. But they were Danny's best friends, so they weren't exactly like other humans. They liked Danny and he was half ghost, so they were probably not as scared of ghosts as other people.

With this fact in mind, she nodded. Danny smiled and patted her head before flying off. She knew it was early in the morning in the human world, so he probably had to hurry back for school. He waved at her as he called out that he would pick her up later. She waved back until she finally lost sight of him.

Flora then went over to an empty patch of her garden, deciding to work on it for the rest of the day. She'd started thinking about her domain the night before when the older girls had visited. While calling the floating chunk of land covered in her plants her domain might be accurate, it didn't exactly seem complete. This wasn't just her territory. It wasn't just her particular corner of the Ghost Zone that no one else should ever intrude on. It didn't describe it completely. With the trees and the flowers she was growing, it was turning into a garden. Her domain was a garden. Her home was a garden. Just like Skulker had his island covered in jungle and Ghost Writer had his library, she had her garden. And that was what she was going to call it for now on.

The whole day was spent with her switching between reading and training with her powers, especially invisibility. That one in particular seemed important if she was going to be leaving the Ghost Zone. She kept herself busy until evening when she saw Danny come flying over.

Once he landed he held out his hand and asked, "You ready?"

Flora nodded and took his hand, allowing him to lead as they took flight. Once they reached the entrance to the human world, he became invisible and Flora copied him. The moment they went out, Danny quickly moved forward. She couldn't phase through objects in the Ghost Zone for some reason, so she hadn't been able to practice that skill or the ability to make herself solid very much. But she did try to learn and she didn't need to be solid at the moment anyway. She just needed to hold onto Danny as he led her straight through the structure of the house.

They soon reached the outside and Flora couldn't help taking a look around. There were many houses lining the street. She thought she recognized cars and trucks parked along the side of the road in a few places, but they seemed different than she expected. Looking back, she tilted her head to the side.

Apparently, Danny's house was very noticeable in comparison to the others. With a giant sign and what seemed to be a UFO-looking thing on top, it stuck out. At least she probably wouldn't get lost in the human world.

Holding Danny's hand tight, she allowed him to lead her across the strange town until they reached a very big house. At least, it looked big from above. From the front, it looked a lot like the other buildings around it.

Flying upwards, they soon entered what seemed to be a bedroom. It was a little darker and gloomier than what Flora would have done with a bedroom, but she was sleeping in a tree. Who was she to judge? The girl ghost quickly noticed there were two people inside the room waiting.

One was a girl about Danny's age. She was wearing black attire, from her shirt to the black skirt with the slight plaid pattern. She wore medium-length black hair pulled a small ponytail, making it look even shorter. She had purple eyes and wore some kind of lipstick or other kind of lip makeup stuff. She didn't wear a lot of it or a bright color of it, but she did wear a little. Ember knew more about makeup things than Flora did, so she would ask the musician ghost next time if there was a special name for lip makeup stuff that wasn't as bright as lipstick.

The other was a boy who was also around Danny's age. He had dark brown skin, which was an interesting change from the pale, green, and blue-skinned people she'd been meeting lately. He also green eyes and glasses, though his eyes weren't the same glowing green that ghosts sometimes had. His were a darker shade. He was wearing a long-sleeved yellow shirt and green khaki pants. And on his head was a red hat that just sort of perched there on the back.

Once Danny saw them, he smiled and became visible. Taking that as her cue, Flora following after.

The girl stepped forward first with a smile, "Hi, I'm Sam. You're Flora, right?"

She seemed friendly, but for some reason Flora suddenly felt quite shy and hid behind Danny. She did manage a quick nod, though. She didn't want to be completely rude and not answer her.

Seeing her reaction, Danny placed a hand on her back while murmuring assurances and pushed her forward. Apparently she wasn't going to get out of meeting everyone.

"You… You're not scared?" Flora asked hesitantly.

Sam replied with a shake of ahead. The assurance caused the ghost girl to smile weakly.

"Of course I'm not scared. If you managed to scare me, I'd have to renounce my title as a Goth. By the way, here…," she told her, bringing something out from behind her back.

It was a leather-bound journal with a buckle strap with a pencil inserted in it. It wasn't particularly fancy or decorative, but it still looked kind of nice. Gingerly, Flora took it and looked at Sam in question.

"Since you can't remember anything, maybe you can write down new memories down so you won't forget again," Sam explained kindly, causing Flora to smile.

"Thank you," she murmured and hugged the journal to her chest.

Her reaction of gratitude brought smiles to Danny and Sam. However, she noticed that the boy who had to be Tucker was in the corner of the room, looking a little uncomfortable and fidgeting every few minutes. Was he a little nervous about meeting new people and worrying about making a good impression too?

"That reminds me," Danny said. "I've got a little present for you too."

He flew out, vanishing somewhere out of sight. A few minutes later, he came back with his hands behind his back and grinning smugly.

Flora moved towards him only for her nose to meet something soft as he put his hands in front of him abruptly. Blinking, her eyes met with something black and beady right in front of her face. Stepping back so she could actually see what he was holding, she realized it was a plush bunny. It was all fuzzy and white and completely adorable. It had tiny beady eyes and a fluffy tail. But best of all, it was for her.

She smiled in joy and took the gift, murmuring her thanks and hugging it along with her new journal. This was so amazing and wonderful. She never expected she'd get presents when she came to visit them.

Then she felt some kind of tension in the room and turned around, catching a glimpse of Sam and Danny glaring at Tucker above her head. And as she thought about how nervous, uncomfortable, and odd he'd been acting since she arrived. Something was wrong. And somehow, she knew it was her fault. She was the one who was putting Danny's friend in a bad mood. This revelation deflated her previously-cheerful emotions and she hugged her gifts even tighter.

"I – I really am a scary ghost after all," she sniffled, tears started to form.

* * *

><p>Tucker had to be the level head in the situation. Sam was already planning how to make the best use of a plant-growing ghost the moment she heard the news and Danny was apparently tossing caution to the wind. He'd agreed to the meeting so that he could be the rational one and actually make sure that there was no mind-controlling or weird masquerade going on. Just because Danny stopped considering the dangers of even a harmless-looking ghost didn't mean that Tucker would just let his friend get hurt.<p>

Then Danny flew in with a little kid. He wasn't joking when he said she was a little girl. She looked like she couldn't be old enough to cross the street on her own. She was a tiny thing in a white dress and a green cardigan. The necklace was weird, but some people didn't have his fashion sense. And it was so easy to see why someone would feel protective of the little ghost. With her straight black hair and slightly slanted eyes, she looked like a doll. And she was kind of cute. Even Sam would call her cute and she didn't even like "cute."

But he couldn't just give in to whatever instincts were urging him to coo after her like she was a fresh-off-the-assembly-line laptop. Someone had to keep a level head about this. It was just this sort of sweet and adorable packaging that could be used to disguise a ruthless monster. No one would suspect something like that.

Tucker was determined to remain strong, even when everything told him that she was just an actual little kid. A little ghost kid, but still a kid. He would maintain his resolve. He would keep up a healthy level of caution in the face of a strange ghost who could theoretically be dangerous.

And all that resolve crumbled like wet cardboard the instant she started to get upset by his reaction. Upon seeing tears start to form in her eyes at the idea that she was scary, Tucker couldn't help but to feel guilty. He had been so worried about Danny, thinking that some ghost had managed to trick him somehow, that he'd ended up too stubborn to admit that his friend was usually a good judge of character. He kept wondering if it was all just a trick and would break Danny's heart (or his neck).

But in trying to protect Danny, he had hurt the ghost instead. Not just any ghost though, but a little girl. One who was lost, scared, and was just looking for help. No wonder Danny instantly sprang into hero mode when he saw her.

Realizing how idiotically stubborn he'd been, Tucker quickly went over to her. Kneeling down he placed a hand on her head.

"I'm sorry" he told her apologetically. "I thought you were playing a trick on Danny, but I see you're not."

Sniffling and wiping away her tears, Flora retorted, "Danny found me and helped me. I would never want to hurt him or anyone. I don't want to be a scary ghost."

Sam, kneeling beside Tucker, told her, "And you're not. Promise. Now, Danny said you have plant powers?"

Yeah, Sam was definitely excited about that part. Her eyes were shining with anticipation. This was practically the entire reason she wanted to meet Flora in the first place.

Flora smiled and nodded, obviously excited herself to show her powers. She glanced around the room, her green eyes searching for something. Tucker was definitely glad the little kid's mood had improved.

"Do you want me to revive or grow a new plant? I need some ground to do it," she told them.

Having come prepared, Sam went over to corner of her room and dug around through her belongings. She then came back with a pot of soil in hand. Placing the pot in front of Flora, they all kneeled.

Obviously thinking hard on what to grow, she soon smiled. Laying her hands above the soil, it soon glowed green. Then slowly something started to grow out of the dirt.

This was different that the kinds of things they watched Danny do all the time. But it was no less impressive in its own way. They all stared in awe as a beautiful bunch colorful flowers grew from the soil. It took Tucker a minute to remember them from his parents' anniversary, but he thought they might be gladiolus flowers. Tall and bountiful in color, Flora smiled in satisfaction.

"That's it. I'm keeping her," muttered Sam under her breath.

"I've been reading about the language of flowers lately," she told them. "And according to what I read, the gladiolus flower symbolizes strength in character and honor as well as signifying remembrance."

The ghost girl picked up the pot and handed it to Sam. The three friends marveled at the newly grown plant a moment before praising her. Flora blushed in embarrassment before a thought apparently came to her.

"By the way, Danny said that you two are a 'Goth' and a 'techno-geek.' What are those?" she asked, quickly catching the duo's attention.

Tucker instantly started to fill her in on the wonders of technology, but Sam began chatting excitedly at the exact same second. It was clear that talking over each other wasn't going to work, so Flora stopped them and instead worked out a system. She began by asking a question to one of them and writing down the answer in her new journal. Then she'd ask a question to the other one and repeat the process, back and forth between the two. She turned out to have a lot of questions and was pretty curious about both of them.

Danny simply watched in the background, obviously amused at his friends being essentially interviewed by the little girl ghost. But Tucker didn't mind too much. Now that he was reasonably sure that she wasn't devising some kind of plot against his friend, the teenager was perfectly content to brag about technology to his receptive audience.

* * *

><p>This was definitely a good idea. Danny was actually pretty happy with how the meeting went. Except for Tucker's initial hesitancy, the entire visit went pretty smoothly and the little girl ghost was enjoying herself. He was a little concerned that Sam would want to keep Flora and possibly turn her into another Goth activist who tried to save the environment, but hopefully they could avoid whatever chaos that idea would bring. Regardless, this was a good first meeting.<p>

But looking over at a clock, he saw how late it was getting. Even if he and his friend kept the weirdest hours thanks to ghost hunting, they did need to sleep occasionally and Flora probably should get back. Telling the rest of the group it was time to break up the party disappointed them, but everyone understood he was right. So exchanging promises to one another to see each other again soon, Danny took the ghost girl's hand and phased them through the wall.

While flying back to his house Danny couldn't help but smile down at Flora. She was still hugging tight her gifts with her free hand.

"Had fun?" he asked her.

She responded with a nod as they reached his house. Crossing his fingers that his parents weren't performing any weird late-night experiments or inventing in the basement, the teen pulled her straight through the walls and floor until they were in the lab. It was thankfully still empty and Danny whispered a quick warning to Flora to never stay or wander around his house alone. If she needed to go somewhere in the human world, she needed to get in and out of his house as quickly as possible. When she nodded in understanding, they slipped back through the portal and re-entered the Ghost Zone.

Once they reached her domain, Flora scurried into her hollowed-out tree to put her toy and journal away. He waited a moment for her to come back out again, the teenager having something important to tell the girl before he left.

"Flora, I'm not going to be around next week," he said carefully.

"Why not?" she asked, confusion clear on her face.

He shrugged, "My parents have their twenty year reunion for their college, which means we're all heading for Wisconsin for a week. So none of us will be back in Amity Park until later."

"Oh…"

Trying to smile at her encouragingly, he said, "It won't be that long. And if you need anything, just go to Sam or Tucker. They'll help you out. Just don't let anyone else see you when you visit them. Okay?"

There was some slight hesitation, but she nodded in understanding. This was another reason why he was glad that their first meeting went so well. His friends could at least help her out if something came up while he was gone or if she just ended up being lonely. Flora would be in good hands while he was gone. Danny still made sure to give her a hug before leaving though.

* * *

><p>A week had passed and whenever she could during that time, Flora would visit Sam or Tucker. When at Sam's, she would practice with her powers and learn about the apparent 'Goth world' and the various ways that people could help the environment. And when she found out where Tucker lived and visited him, she learned about technology. There was so many strange things that he possessed, most of them beeping almost at random when the touched them. But he was just as eager to show them off as Sam was when it came to her interests. And sometimes Ember or Kitty would still land in her garden for no particular reason or she would go to exchange one of the shorter books for another that Ghost Writer suggested. Flora found herself quickly making a schedule, wanting to find time to spend with all her friends.<p>

However, it still was quite sad at times without Danny.

But when the week was over and she knew Danny had returned, she expected him to fly into her garden with stories of how interesting or boring the trip was. She eagerly awaited his arrival. But he didn't visit her, strangely enough.

She couldn't go poking around his house to find him. He'd said it wasn't safe for ghosts to stay there for very long. When she went to Sam and Tucker, they told her he was apparently in a less-than-cheerful mood. They said he'd had a rough few days and he'd probably tell her about it later.

Understanding he wanted to be alone, Flora decided to tend to her growing domain. He'd come back around eventually. And maybe she could cheer him up with some nice wildflowers when Danny showed up. He'd left a few nearby chunks of rock floating nearby before he left on his trip, so adding to the mass of her floating island was relatively easy for the moment. She'd surprise him with the improvements to her garden next time he visited.

While connecting a new small piece of land, her thoughts began to wander and she remembered something. For some reason, the silver-haired man she met weeks ago stuck in her head. She hadn't really thought about him much beyond feeling embarrassed at intruding on him like that, but there was something odd she hadn't really noticed at the time.

He'd been strangely not frightened when he saw her. She was a ghost who just appeared out of nowhere. He wasn't like Sam and Tucker, who were best friends with Danny and knew who she was. So why wasn't he scared of her? And what's more, why did he have a swirly weird door to the Ghost Zone anyway?

Thinking about it now, her curiosity nagged her. And if there was one thing she'd figured out all ready, it was that her curiosity would always win out over caution. She wanted to find answers. And there was only one way that she would get those answers.

So taking her journal, she flew in search of the other swirly weird door. It wasn't exactly easy since she'd been lost the first time she found it and she didn't want to get lost again. But she sort of remembered how she eventually found her way back home afterwards, so she tried her best to remember the way. And just in case, she wrote down which way she went in the journal so she'd know where she was going. After what seemed like an hour, she soon found the swirling door once again and went through.

She found herself back in the strange lab and this time, he was already there. He was turned away from her, but she recognized the sharp-dressed man anyway.

Clearing her throat, she soon caught his attention. He turned around, blinked briefly in surprise, and raised an eyebrow at her arrival.

"Hello," she greeted hesitantly, hugging her journal close.

She wasn't sure what kind of reaction to expect, but she hoped he wouldn't be angry. The man simply smirked and chuckled.

"My, this week is just full of surprises. First, a kindred spirit. And now, the intruder ghost I had thought I'd never see again makes her return," he stated, his hand resting under his chin as he studied her thoughtfully.

His statement confused Flora slightly, but the man quickly shook off that particular train of thought. He took a step forward, his hands tucking behind his back.

"Never mind that now. Why are you here, child, if I might I ask?" he said.

"My name is Flora, sir. And, well…"

Her voice trailed off. She had wanted to come here for answers at first. But the more she thought about it, the ruder it sounded. She didn't know the man. And this was his home. It would be so rude for a stranger to come barreling into someone's house and asking dozens of questions. What was she thinking? So she instead threw away the idea and looked around the room for a different excuse.

Most of the room was a lab of some kind, so there weren't a lot of options for her to work with. But on one of the counters, not far away from the man, was a tea cup. The tea was still hot enough that she could see the steam coming off it. Something about tea seemed good. Had she drank tea before? Did she like it? And with that observation, an idea came.

"May I have tea with you, sir?" she asked.

Surprise quickly flashed across his face. Of all things he'd probably imagined, he clearly didn't expect the ghost to ask him that. On the other hand, he didn't look angry with the idea either.

Chuckling in amusement, he answered, "Very well, child."

He walked out of the room, Flora following after him. He led her to a library, though not one nearly as large or impressive as Ghost Writer's. There were still a reasonable collection of books that lined the shelves. Somehow, she doubted she'd be able to read any of his books yet. All of them were very thick and heavy. There were also several chairs in the room that looked perfect for reading in. And near a pair of chairs was a small table with a tea set resting on it.

As he poured her a cup of tea and handed it to her, she asked, "May I know your name, sir?"

He looked rather amused by the entire situation. And maybe a little thoughtful. Taking a sip of tea and feeling a strange sense of familiarity in the action, she waited for his answer.

"My name is Vladimir Masters, child. But most prefer to call me 'Vlad' and you are welcome to do the same," he told her.

* * *

><p>He should have just thrown the strange ghost out of his home the second time he intruded, but Vlad was amused enough for the moment to let her speak. And then she asked for tea of all things and he couldn't help thinking this was the oddest thing he'd witnessed in quite some time. Well, perhaps not the oddest. Learning what Maddie's child was capable of was certainly more intriguing that the ghost girl in front of him.<p>

Even if his plans against Jack that week hadn't gone exactly as expected, he was still mostly in a good mood. There was a new player on the board and it could prove interesting to see what the young Danny would become. Especially if he was able to mold him into being the perfect son over time so that he would have the perfect family the day he won Maddie's heart.

So his good mood proved favorable for his unexpected guest and he decided to humor her request. She was already present and seemed polite enough, so he might as well amuse the ghost child for the moment. After all, a good cup of tea would help in his plotting in regards to the future.

While sipping her tea, another idea popped into the ghost girl's head. The child, Flora, smiled slightly and looked up at Vlad.

"Excuse me sir, if you don't mind, would you be willing to teach me chess?" she asked, surprising him once more with her odd requests.

"Chess? Why, I would have though you would prefer playing outside. Most children your age prefer more active pursuits to more intellectual ones," he stated in amusement.

My, this ghost was getting more peculiar, but interesting by the minute. He doubted that she would prove to be much of a chess player. It was quite likely that he'd grow bored with teaching her the fundamentals of the game quite quickly. Still, it was rare that he had an opponent for a game. At least, when it came to an actual game of chess. There were plenty of souls, human and ghost, that he could and did manipulate like pieces on a board on a regular basis. And young Danny was the newest pawn in this game. But a simple game against the child would be a nice and relaxing way to pass the time and it might be interesting to see what amusing idea she came up with next.

What's more, the nagging feeling had returned with a vengeance. The odd sense of déjà vu he'd experienced the last time this ghost child appeared in his home was back. And he still couldn't figure out a reason. Except for her first intrusion into his house, he'd never seen this ghost before in his life. And random ghosts appearing for a cup of tea and a game of chess wasn't a regular occurrence either. So why did he have the odd nagging feeling in the back of his mind?

Perhaps he could figure out that little mystery if she remained long enough for her proposed game of chess. It couldn't hurt. And if he did figure out why there was the odd sense of déjà vu, then it would stop annoying him so much.

"Very well," he accepted, willing to amuse the child for the moment. "Follow me then."

Placing down his cup, he prepared to head to his study. And used to having the house to himself and taking shortcuts when he was busy, Vlad acted without thought. Normally, he was wise enough to avoid such a silly mistake, but he'd been through a rather unusual and distracting week.

To her obvious shock, black rings of energy formed around his figure and his form changed. Where once there was the white-haired man now stood a blue-skinned ghost. His white outfit with a cap and the sharp fangs in his mouth made him looked like a vampire, which he'd found intriguing back during his first transformation years ago. His black hair spiked slightly upwards in two locations on his head, giving him an almost horned appearance. His eyes were a bright glowing red rather than the blue ones from before.

While he was comfortable with his alternate form, her startled and intimidated expression reminded him that his odd guest was not. And even stranger, he wasn't particularly happy scaring the child. There was no benefit in causing the ghost girl distress, so he decided to address the issue before she decided to disappear.

"Forgive me, child. I should have warned you. I am a half ghost, as you may have noticed by now. And while people refer to me as Vlad Masters when I am human, in this form I am called Vlad Plasmius," he explained, showing his hands to show he meant no harm.

The gesture and words were apparently enough to reassure her. He could see her visibly relax, a weak smile and a nod quickly following. Once the girl, Flora, was able to calm down enough, she followed him as he phased through the wall.

They soon reached a study where he kept a chess set on the corner of his desk. Since he often thought of his various plans and strategies as real-life versions of chess played out with numerous pieces and with the entire human world and Ghost Zone as the board, it sometimes helped him to concentrate when he kept a chess set nearby. He didn't know if the odd little girl ghost would someday be a useful pawn or if she simply wasn't even in the game. He'd have to think about that another day when he knew more about her beyond her strange requests.

Transforming back to human once more, Vlad took a seat. He then indicated for her sit across him. From their chosen positions, he would be playing with the white pieces (naturally) while she would be handling the black side. That would be the ideal way to start since she would likely need to observe him move the pieces a few times before she memorized everything. And besides, white always made the first move and Vlad preferred taking the initiative rather than remaining on the defensive, whether in the game or in life.

For the rest of the day, Flora slowly but surely began to learn the art of chess. And he made certain to drill the importance of even the trickier pieces on the board. The knight's moving patterns were a little more difficult for her to learn, but she figured out the rook and bishop easily enough.

By the end of the lesson, she asked if she could come back again sometime. And to obvious her relief and his own surprise, Vlad found himself nodding in response.


End file.
